Trustees
The Board of Trustees truly pwn the university, and meet in their own special power-trippy room of Low Library once in awhile. Campus is always made spiffy clean for their semi-regular summits.
All power in the university flows from the Trustees because Columbia is, legally speaking, a corporation called the "Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York" (just like it says at the top of your diploma).
History
The Royal charter granted by King George II in 1754 gave power to "the Governors of the College in the Province of New York", making them a corporate body. The current institution of the Board, however, only came into being after Columbia was returned to private trusteeship in 1787, after a three-year post-Revolutionary War experiment in state control by the New York Board of Regents. Alexander Hamilton, then a Regent, was instrumental in investing the members of the original King's College Board of Governors with the same power under the new "Board of Trustees of Columbia College in the City of New York," which was to extend "in perpetual succession," according to the "original intent" of the 1754 charter.
The full powers of the Trustees are enumerated in the most recent amendment of the charter, dating to 1810. The name of the corporation was changed to the "Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York" only in 1912, around a decade after Columbia had formally begun calling itself a university.
Powers
Among their other duties, including the selection of the University President and overseeing all senior faculty and administrative appointments, monitoring the budget and endowment, and amending the University Statutes - Columbia's administrative code - the trustees have the true power to grant degrees to any Columbia school or affiliated institution (although Barnard has its own trustees, its students have received their degrees from Columbia's trustees, dating back to Barnard's predecessor, the 1883 Plan for the Education of Women). Diplomas accordingly begin with (in English variations) "The Trustees of Columbia University" or (in Latin variations) "Curatores Universitatis Columbiae".
By-laws and Resolutions
- By-Laws and Rules of Order of the Trustees as adopted March 7, 1892 with Amendments
- Resolutions Passed by the Trustees of Columbia College 1820-1868
- Resolutions Passed by the Trustees of Columbia College 1868-1874
- Resolutions Passed by the Trustees of Columbia College 1874-1879
- Resolutions Passed by the Trustees of Columbia College 1880-1885
- Resolutions Adopted by the Trustees of Columbia College October 1903-June 1909
