Nicholas Murray Butler - Revision history

Cds2148 at 23:25, 11 November 2013

2013-11-11T23:25:01Z

Pacman: /* Support for graduate vs. undergraduate education */

2013-05-16T16:48:06Z

‎Support for graduate vs. undergraduate education

Absentminded at 06:21, 16 May 2013

2013-05-16T06:21:52Z

Absentminded at 06:09, 16 May 2013

2013-05-16T06:09:34Z

Absentminded at 05:57, 16 May 2013

2013-05-16T05:57:00Z

Absentminded: /* Butler the professor */

2013-05-16T05:33:11Z

‎Butler the professor

Pacman at 05:32, 16 May 2013

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Pacman at 05:29, 16 May 2013

2013-05-16T05:29:08Z

Pacman at 05:28, 16 May 2013

2013-05-16T05:28:40Z

Pacman: /* Anti-Semitism */

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‎Anti-Semitism

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 '''Nicholas Murray Butler''' [[Columbia College|CC]] [[1882]] [[MA]] [[1883]] [[PhD]] [[1884]] was the [[University President|ruler]] of Columbia for over four decades ([[1902]]-[[1945]]).  Despite being associated with several controversies, and banishing, brushing aside, or ignoring opponents with the effectiveness of his similarly mustachioed contemporary, Stalin, he was probably Columbia's most influential leader. And his influence over the direction of the university began well before even his long term as president, as he can claim credit for aiding the expansion that took place under Presidents [[Frederick A. P. Barnard]] and [[Seth Low]] as well. As the ''[[Spec]]'' wrote after his death: "When 16 year old Nicholas Murray Butler came to Columbia, it was a small, unpretentious college of 227 students. When 83-year-old Nicholas Murray Butler retired from the presidency of Columbia University, he left a gigantic institution with an enrollment over 23,000."<ref>http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19581112-01.2.9&srpos=45&e=-------en-20--41--txt-IN-salutatorian----#</ref>
-Butler's achievements extended well outside the university's gates; he won a [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]] and was a candidate for Vice President of the United States, served as head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and had his Christmas greeting to the nation published every year in the ''[[New York Times]]''. In his prime, he was better known outside the U.S. than the country's presidents, and would be the only individual at international conferences who wasn't a head of government or state.
+Butler's achievements extended well outside the university's gates; he won a [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]] and was a candidate for Vice President of the United States, served as head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and had his Christmas greeting to the nation published every year in the ''[[New York Times]]''. In his prime, he was better known outside the U.S. than the country's presidents, and would be the only individual at international conferences who wasn't a head of government or state. Despite his prolific achievements and notoriety, the FBI has no documents about him, since "[r]ecords which may have been responsive [..] were destroyed on December 7, 2009<ref>http://www.wikicu.com/images/8/88/NMB_FOIL.pdf</ref>.
 [[Butler Library]], the [[Butler Medal]], and [[Butler Hall]] are named after him.

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 Inspired by German research universities, Butler heavily de-emphasized undergraduate education in favor of graduate study, establishing centers of graduate learning, such as the [[Medical Center]], and seeking to exclude the College from representation on the [[University Senate]]. Deriding the college's liberal arts curriculum as producing "wastefully educated men," he later infamously proposed that a two year preprofessional course be adopted as an alternative to College study; this was actually implemented, but was later discontinued.
-Butler was also instrumental in expanding the university beyond even its degree-granting functions, creating such programs as Columbia's summer sessions, its extension school, and its [[University Press]].
+In seeking to sideline the college, Butler antagonized more than a few of its prominent faculty members. Professor [[John Erskine]], for example, proposed the college even move to a separate campus, near Baker Field, in order to reestablish its independence.
 Necessarily a star fundraiser, given the size of his ambitions, Butler also set the pattern for administrators that's all too familiar today: ignoring the needs of current students while courting wealthy alumni heavily.

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 Butler's achievements extended well outside the university's gates; he won a [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]] and was a candidate for Vice President of the United States, served as head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and had his Christmas greeting to the nation published every year in the ''[[New York Times]]''. In his prime, he was better known outside the U.S. than the country's presidents, and would be the only individual at international conferences who wasn't a head of government or state.
-[[Butler Library]] and the [[Butler Medal]] are named after him.
+[[Butler Library]], the [[Butler Medal]], and [[Butler Hall]] are named after him.
 ==Butler the student==

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:09, 16 May 2013
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	Butler also helped found, in [[1887]], the New York Institute for the Training of Teachers, which later evolved into [[Teachers College]], and served as president of that institution until [[1901]]. He could not quite help reaching into other spheres of influence, either; by the age of 30, he had been involved in a reorganization of [[New Jersey]]'s schools and libraries, and had weathered a libel suit for calling the New York City school system "a mastodon".		Butler also helped found, in [[1887]], the New York Institute for the Training of Teachers, which later evolved into [[Teachers College]], and served as president of that institution until [[1901]]. He could not quite help reaching into other spheres of influence, either; by the age of 30, he had been involved in a reorganization of [[New Jersey]]'s schools and libraries, and had weathered a libel suit for calling the New York City school system "a mastodon".
		+
		+	In [[1890]], Butler's colleagues elected him the first Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy (the second of Columbia's three graduate arts and sciences faculties), from which perch he recruited a number of prominent academics to Columbia, including [[James McKeen Cattell]], [[E. B. Wilson]], and [[Franz Boas]].

	All this activity earned Butler the attention of many American universities. No fewer than eight state schools, as well as [[Stanford]], had offered him presidencies that would have paid over three times his professorial salary, but he held out to helm Columbia, perhaps because he had been promised the president's post after the departure of Seth Low.		All this activity earned Butler the attention of many American universities. No fewer than eight state schools, as well as [[Stanford]], had offered him presidencies that would have paid over three times his professorial salary, but he held out to helm Columbia, perhaps because he had been promised the president's post after the departure of Seth Low.

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 [[Image:NButler.jpg|thumb|right|Nicholas Murray Butler]]
-'''Nicholas Murray Butler''' [[Columbia College|CC]] [[1882]] [[MA]] [[1883]] [[PhD]] [[1884]] was the [[University President|ruler]] of Columbia for over four decades ([[1902]]-[[1945]]).  Despite being associated with several controversies, and banishing, brushing aside, or ignoring opponents with the effectiveness of his similarly mustachioed contemporary, Stalin, he was probably Columbia's greatest leader. And his influence over the direction of the university began well before even his long term as president, and he can claim credit for much of the expansion that took place during the [[Frederick A. P. Barnard]] and [[Seth Low]] eras as well. As the ''[[Spec]]'' wrote after his death: "When 16 year old Nicholas Murray Butler came to Columbia, it was a small, unpretentious college of 227 students. When 83-year-old Nicholas Murray Butler retired from the presidency of Columbia University, he left a gigantic institution with an enrollment over 23,000."<ref>http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19581112-01.2.9&srpos=45&e=-------en-20--41--txt-IN-salutatorian----#</ref>
+'''Nicholas Murray Butler''' [[Columbia College|CC]] [[1882]] [[MA]] [[1883]] [[PhD]] [[1884]] was the [[University President|ruler]] of Columbia for over four decades ([[1902]]-[[1945]]).  Despite being associated with several controversies, and banishing, brushing aside, or ignoring opponents with the effectiveness of his similarly mustachioed contemporary, Stalin, he was probably Columbia's most influential leader. And his influence over the direction of the university began well before even his long term as president, as he can claim credit for aiding the expansion that took place under Presidents [[Frederick A. P. Barnard]] and [[Seth Low]] as well. As the ''[[Spec]]'' wrote after his death: "When 16 year old Nicholas Murray Butler came to Columbia, it was a small, unpretentious college of 227 students. When 83-year-old Nicholas Murray Butler retired from the presidency of Columbia University, he left a gigantic institution with an enrollment over 23,000."<ref>http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19581112-01.2.9&srpos=45&e=-------en-20--41--txt-IN-salutatorian----#</ref>
 Butler's achievements extended well outside the university's gates; he won a [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]] and was a candidate for Vice President of the United States, served as head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and had his Christmas greeting to the nation published every year in the ''[[New York Times]]''. In his prime, he was better known outside the U.S. than the country's presidents, and would be the only individual at international conferences who wasn't a head of government or state.

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 ==Butler the professor==
-Butler joined the faculty as a philosophy professor in [[1885]]. Once on the faculty, Butler threw himself into administration. When Columbia was poised to move to the [[Morningside Heights campus]], he advocated the entire neighborhood be purchased for the new campus; failure to heed this advice has contributed to space issues to this day. Butler also helped found, in [[1887]], the New York Institute for the Training of Teachers, which later evolved into [[Teachers College]], and served as president of that institution until [[1901]]. He could not quite help reaching into other spheres of influence, either; by the age of 30, he had been involved in a reorganization of [[New Jersey]]'s schools and libraries, and had weathered a libel suit for calling the New York City school system "a mastodon".
+Butler joined the faculty as a philosophy professor in [[1885]]. Once on the faculty, Butler threw himself into administration. In his later years, Butler would somewhat self-servingly claim that when Columbia was poised to move to the [[Morningside Heights campus]], he had advocated the entire neighborhood be purchased for the new campus. Whether or not true, Columbia's failure to purchase all of the land being sold by the [[Bloomingdale Insane Asylum]] has arguably contributed to space issues to this day.
 All this activity earned Butler the attention of many American universities. No fewer than eight state schools, as well as [[Stanford]], had offered him presidencies that would have paid over three times his professorial salary, but he held out to helm Columbia, perhaps because he had been promised the president's post after the departure of Seth Low.

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 During his regime, Butler made sure that Columbia had a very strict Jewish quota. Butler established [[Seth Low Junior College]], meant to provide parallel education to lower-income Jews (and other urban immigrant groups), in a lame attempt to pacify his critics.
-In addition, only two Jews served on the [[Board of Trustees]] during Butler's reign: [[Benjamin Cardozo]] from 1928 to 1932, and [[Arthur Hays Sulzberger]], starting in 1944. He respected some Jews, the sparkling example being the awarding of tenureship to [[Lionel Trilling]] in the [[English Department]], and provocatively sent a Jew as his representative to the Heidelberg anniversary festivities, but these were more like exceptions to the rule.
+In addition, only two Jews served on the [[Board of Trustees]] during Butler's reign: [[Benjamin Cardozo]] from [[1928]] to [[1932]], and [[Arthur Hays Sulzberger]], starting in [[1944]]. He respected some Jews, the sparkling example being the awarding of tenureship to [[Lionel Trilling]] in the [[English Department]], and provocatively sent a Jew as his representative to the Heidelberg anniversary festivities, but these were more like exceptions to the rule.
 ====Interference in the Pulitzer Prize====