A History of Transformation: Exploring New City College and the Legacy of City College of New York

This article delves into the histories of two distinct yet significant educational institutions: New City College (NCC) in London and the City College of New York (CCNY). While geographically separated, both institutions share a common thread of evolution, adaptation, and commitment to providing educational opportunities to diverse populations.

New City College: A London Amalgamation

New City College (NCC) is a large further education college with campuses in east London and Essex. The college was formed in 2016 through the amalgamation of separate colleges, beginning with the merger of Tower Hamlets College and Hackney Community College. This was followed by the gradual additions of Redbridge College, Epping Forest College, and both Havering College of Further and Higher Education, Havering Sixth Form College and Hackney Sixth Form (formerly BSix Sixth Form College).

Campuses and Facilities

NCC boasts nine buildings and five campuses around London and Essex: Redbridge (Ilford and Chadwell Heath), Tower Hamlets (Poplar and Arbour Square), Hackney, Epping Forest (Debden) and Havering (Ardleigh Green, Rainham and Hornchurch). All of these were inherited from its predecessors.

The college is housed in the former building of the School of Marine Engineering and Navigation established by the London County Council opened in 1906. This later evolved into Poplar Technical College, which retained a maritime focus.

Attlee A Level Academy

The College launched the Attlee A Level Academy in 2019 at its Arbour Square Centre in Stepney. This is a specific A Level centre dedicated to high achievement and university progression. It is named after the UK's post-war prime minister Clement Attlee who was committed to positive social change and opportunity for all.

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Hackney Campus

Its campus is in Falkirk Street in Hoxton, backing onto Hoxton Street. The college was originally named Hackney College when it was formed in 1974 by the amalgamation of Hackney and Stoke Newington College of Further Education with those sites of Poplar Technical College that had been established in Hackney. It was initially run by Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) and, following that, by Hackney Council, when it was renamed. For a few years it was known as The Community College Shoreditch, but later reverted to the name Hackney Community College (dating from the process known as "incorporation" in 1993 when it was formed from the merger of Hackney College, Hackney Sixth Form Centre and Hackney Adult Education Institute, as a result of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992). HCC's SPACe (Sport and Performing Arts Centre) was funded by Sport England as a centre of excellence in cricket and basketball. SPACe was home to London United Basketball. It is now branded New City Fitness and is still the base for the Hackney Community College Basketball Academy, as well as academies in other sports and is open to the public as a commercial gym. In August 2024 BSix Sixth Form College in Clapton joined New City College as a new site. Before September 2002, this was one of the sites of the Hackney College.

Historical Roots of Hackney College

One name for the dissenting academy set up by Calvinists in Homerton (in the parish of Hackney) in 1786, also known in various accounts as Homerton Academy, or Homerton College. In these years it attracted some notable students, including William Hazlitt. In 1850 it split into two parts. One name for the seminary co-founded by George Collison (b. 1772 - d. 1847). It was also known as Hackney Academy or Hackney Theological Seminary, or Hackney Itineracy, but became best known as the Hackney College after 1871, a name which stuck even after its 1887 move to Finchley Road in Hampstead, North London.

Hackney and New College Act 1924

Both of these merged in 1900, becoming the University of London's first Faculty of Theology. This became, by the Hackney and New College Act 1924} (14 & 15 Geo. 5. c. xliii), a constituent college known as Hackney and New College, the two names by which its disparate buildings throughout north London were commonly known. In 1934 new premises were planned.

Redbridge, Epping Forest and Havering Campuses

Redbridge College began life as Redbridge Technical College on 2 June 1970. It offered vocational courses in a range of subjects. Epping Forest College was founded in 1989 as a tertiary college after the re-organisation of post-16 education in south-west Essex. Havering Sixth Form College, part of the New City College Group, is a high achieving sixth form college in Wingletye Lane, Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering, east London, England. Built on the site of Dury Falls Secondary School, it opened in September 1991, and educates full-time students from the ages of 16 to 19. Havering College is part of New City College since it merged with the NCC Group in 2019. The main campus is on Ardleigh Green Road.

City College of New York: A Historical Overview

The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. The main campus is located in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood. City College's 35-acre (14 ha) campus spans Convent Avenue from 130th to 141st Streets. It was initially designed by an architect George B. Post.

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The Free Academy: Origins and Ideals

The City College of New York was founded as the Free Academy of the City of New York in 1847 by wealthy businessman and president of the Board of Education Townsend Harris. A combination prep school, high school / secondary school and college, it would provide children of immigrants and the poor access to free higher education based on academic merit alone. The Free Academy was the first of what would become a system of municipally supported colleges - the second, Hunter College, was founded as a women's institution in 1870; and the third, Brooklyn College, was established as a coeducational institution in 1930. In 1847, New York State Governor John Young had given permission to the state Board of Education to found the Free Academy, which was ratified in a statewide referendum. Horace Webster (1794-1871), a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was the first president of the Free Academy.

Early Curriculum and Tolerance

In 1847, a curriculum was adopted that had nine main fields: mathematics, history, language, literature, drawing, natural philosophy, experimental philosophy, law, and political economy. Even in its early years, the Free Academy had a framework of tolerance that extended beyond the admission of students from every social stratum. In 1854, Columbia University denied distinguished chemist and scientist Oliver Wolcott Gibbs a faculty position because of his Unitarian religious beliefs. In 1849 the prep school Townsend Harris Hall Prep School opened on campus, launched as a one-year preparatory school for CCNY. In the early 1900s, as more Jewish students were enrolling, President John H.

Name Changes and Student Government

In 1866, the Free Academy, a men's institution, was renamed the College of the City of New York. In 1929, the College of the City of New York became the City College of New York. Finally, the institution became known as the City College of the City University of New York when the CUNY name was formally established as the umbrella institution for New York City's municipal-college system in 1961. With the name change in 1866, lavender was chosen as the college's color. In 1867, the short-lived academic senate was formed. Rudy (1949) identified this as seeming to be "the first experiment with student self-government attempted in an American college", although other scholars have identified earlier examples such as student literary societies.

The Move to Hamilton Heights

Having struggled over the issue for ten years, in 1895, the New York State Legislature voted to let the City College build a new campus. Like President Webster, the second president of the newly renamed City College was a West Point graduate. The second president, General Alexander S. Webb (1835-1911), assumed office in 1869, serving for almost the next three decades. One of the Union Army's heroes at Gettysburg, General Webb was the commander of the Philadelphia Brigade. In 1891, while still president of the City College, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism at Gettysburg. The college's curriculum under Webster and Webb combined classical training in Latin and Greek with more practical subjects like chemistry, physics, and engineering. General Webb was succeeded by John Huston Finley (1863-1940), as third president in 1903.

Fraternities and Education Courses

Phi Sigma Kappa placed its then-sixth chapter on the campus in 1896; alumni provided scholarships to new students entering the CCNY system for generations. Delta Sigma Phi, founded at CCNY in 1899, claimed to be the first national organization of its type to accept members without regard to religion, race, color or creed. Previously, fraternities at CCNY had excluded Jews. The chapter flourished at the college until 1932 when it closed as a result of the Great Depression. The founding of Zeta Beta Tau at City College in 1898 was Richard Gottheil's initiative to establish a Jewish fraternity with Zionist ideals. Education courses were first offered in 1897 in response to a city law that prohibited the hiring of teachers who lacked a proper academic background. The School of Education was established in 1921.

A Haven for Immigrants and the Working Class

In the years when top-flight private schools were restricted to the children of the Protestant establishment, thousands of brilliant individuals (including Jewish students) attended City College because they had no other option. Separate Schools of Business and Civic Administration and of Technology (Engineering) were established in 1919. In 1947, the college celebrated its centennial year, awarding honorary degrees to Bernard Baruch (class of 1889) and Robert F. Wagner (class of 1898).

Women at City College

Until 1929, City College had been an all-male institution. In 1930, CCNY admitted women for the first time, but only to graduate programs.

Political Radicalism and the Great Hall Debates

In its heyday of the 1930s through the 1950s, CCNY became known for its political radicalism. It was said that the old CCNY cafeteria in the basement of Shepard Hall, particularly in alcove 1 in Shepherd Hall, was the only place in the world where a fair debate between Trotskyists and Stalinists could take place. Being part of a political debate that began in the morning in alcove 1, Irving Howe reported that after some time had passed he would leave his place among the arguing students in order to attend class. The municipality of New York was considerably more conformist than CCNY students and faculty. The Philosophy Department, at the end of the 1939/40 academic year, invited the British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell to become a professor at CCNY. Members of the Roman Catholic Church protested Russell's appointment. A woman named Jean Kay filed suit against the state Board of Higher Education to block Russell's appointment, on the grounds that his views on marriage and sex would adversely affect her daughter's virtue, although her daughter was not a CCNY student.

City College During World War II

After the United States entered World War II, the College mobilized. The New York Times reported that by January 1943, in excess of 80% of the student body was involved in some type of war-related service. The historian S. Willis Rudy wrote that “more than fifteen thousand City College men served in the armed forces of the nation. More than three thousand were commissioned officers. Over 380 received the Order of the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in defense of their country. Fully 850 were cited by the United States or the governments of its allies for meritorious service.

Controversies and the Civil Rights Era

In 1945, the Knickerbocker Case was set off when William E. Knickerbocker, chairman of the romance languages department, was accused of antisemitism by four faculty members. They claimed that "for at least seven years they have been subjected to continual harassment and what looks very much like discrimination" by Knickerbocker. Four years later, Knickerbocker was again accused of antisemitism, this time for denying honors to high-achieving Jewish students. About the same time, William C. Davis of the economics department was accused by students of maintaining a racially segregated dormitory at Army Hall. Davis was the dormitory's administrator. By the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement became a backdrop for activities at City College. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the commencement address at CCNY in 1963. CCNY undergraduate Stephen Somerstein documented in photographs the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march.

Student Protests and Open Admissions

As the student protest movement gathered force in the late 1960s with the Civil Rights Movement and anti-Vietnam War movement in full swing, anti-establishment feelings grew, culminating at CCNY during a 1969 protest takeover of the South campus, African American and Puerto Rican activists and their white allies demanded, among other policy changes, that the City College implement an aggressive affirmative action program to increase minority enrollment and provide academic support. At some point, campus protesters began referring to CCNY as "Harlem University." The administration of the City University at first balked at the demands, but instead, came up with an open admissions or open-access program under which any graduate of a New York City high school would be able to matriculate either at City College or another college in the CUNY system.

Tuition and Academic Standards

Beginning in 1970, the program opened doors to college to many who would not otherwise have been able to attend college. City College began charging tuition in 1976. Open enrollment was eliminated in 2000 and academic entrance requirements were implemented at CUNY's senior colleges and applicants who could not meet it had to enroll in the system's community colleges, where they could prepare for an eventual transfer to one of the 4-year institutions. Since this decision, all CUNY senior colleges, especially CCNY, have seen an increase in incoming freshman GPA and SAT scores.

Community Action and the University Scholars Program

As a result of the 1989 student protests and building takeovers in response to tuition increases, a community action center was opened on the campus, called the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center, located in the NAC building. Harvard and Yale at the "Super Bowl" of the American Parliamentary Debate Association in 1996. The City University of New York began recruiting students for the University Scholars program in the fall 2000, and admitted the first cohort of undergraduate scholars in the fall 2001. CCNY was one of five CUNY campuses, on which the program was initiated. In 2009, the School of Architecture moved into the former Y Building, which was gutted and completely remodeled under the design direction of architect Rafael Viñoly.

The Neo-Gothic Campus of CCNY

CCNY's Collegiate Gothic campus in Manhattanville was erected in 1906, replacing a downtown campus built in 1849. This new campus was designed by George Browne Post. in this style. Shepard Hall, the largest building and the centerpiece of the campus, was modeled after a Gothic cathedral plan with its main entrance on St. Nicholas Terrace. It has a large chapel assembly hall called the Great Hall, which has a mural painted by Edwin Blashfield called "The Graduate" and another mural in the Lincoln Hallway called "The Great Teachers" painted by Abraham Bogdanove in 1930. The building was named after Edward M. Wingate Hall was named for George Wood Wingate (Class of 1858), an attorney and promoter of physical fitness. The sixth campus, Goethals Hall, was completed in 1930. The new building was named for George Washington Goethals, the CCNY civil engineering alumnus who, as mentioned above in the section on the history of the college, went on to become the chief engineer of the Panama Canal.

Campus Landmarks and Expansion

The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission made the North Campus Quadrangle buildings and the College Gates official landmarks in 1981. The Administration Building was erected in 1963 on the North Campus across from Wingate Hall. It houses the institution's administration offices, including the President's, Provost's and the Registrar's offices. It was originally intended as a warehouse to store the huge number of records and transcripts of students since 1847. The first floor of the Administration Building was given a postmodern renovation in 2004. In early 2007, the Administration Building was formally named the Howard E. Wille Administration Building, in honor of Howard E. The Marshak Science Building was completed in 1971 on the site of the former Jasper Oval, an open space previously used as a football field. The building was named after Robert Marshak, renowned physicist and president of CCNY (1970-1979). In the 1970s, construction of the massive North Academic Center (NAC) was initiated. It was completed in 1984, and replaced Lewisohn Stadium and Klapper Hall. The NAC was designed by John Carl Warnecke.

The South Campus

In 1953, CCNY bought the campus of the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart (which, on a 1913 map, was shown as The Convent of the Sacred Heart), which added a south section to the campus. This expanded the campus to include many of the buildings in the area between 140th Street to 130th Street, from St. As a result of this expansion, the South Campus of CCNY housed mainly liberal arts classes and departments. In 1957, a new library building was erected in the middle of the campus, near 135th Street on the South Campus, and named Cohen Library, after Morris Raphael Cohen, an alumnus and philosopher. In the 1970s, many of the old buildings of the South Campus were demolished, some that had been used by the Academy of the Sacred Heart. Some of the buildings that were demolished at that time were Finley Hall (housed The Finley Student Center, student activities center, originally built in 1888-1890 as Manhattanville Academy's main building, and purchased in 1953 by City College), Wagner Hall, (which housed various social science and liberal arts departments and classes, originally built as a dormitory for Manhattanville Academy, and was named in honor of Robert F. Several new buildings were erected on the South Campus, including Aaron Davis Hall in 1981 and the Herman Goldman sports field in 1993. In 2007, two new buildings had been proposed for the South Campus site by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY).

The Fortune Society and its Connection to the CCNY Community

As one approaches the northern edge of CCNY's campus, near 140th Street, an interesting architectural structure catches the eye. This "castle-like" building on the corner of Riverside Drive is actually a housing unit opened by the Fortune Society in 2002. It provides residence for individuals with a history of incarceration, offering a supportive environment for their transition back into society. Adjacent to this, Castle Gardens opened in 2010, further expanding the program to offer long-term housing options.

The Fortune Society's work extends beyond just housing. They offer a range of services including education, counseling, and career planning. Their shared housing model aims to create a sense of community, combating the isolation often experienced by the formerly incarcerated. The Fortune Society also provides mental health services, substance abuse treatment, nutrition programs, and arts opportunities.

HSMSE and City College

Despite the typical public high school interior of linoleum floors and metal doors, students at HSMSE get to share an unusually beautiful campus with CCNY. The City College of New York, a.k.a. the “Poor Man’s Harvard,” is ranked #13 in Top Public Universities in New York, and #12 in Social Mobility nationally. Students from around the city are lucky enough to visit the seemingly ancient alcove hidden in the middle of Harlem. Aside from that, City College’s campus is often considered one of the finest examples of neo-Gothic architecture in the United States.

In 2002, HSMSE was founded in collaboration with Dr. Matthew Goldstein, the Chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY). Despite the high school’s collaboration with CUNY, they could not call the historic campus their home until four years after their founding, and instead resided in trailers from 130th to 135th street. In 2006, City College’s Baskerville Hall was renovated for HSMSE by the Department of Education. In the past two decades, students at HSMSE have been given the opportunity to learn in the oasis of beauty and community that George B. HSMSE’s campus is not the typical suburban school, and it certainly isn’t the typical NYC school. Although it is easy to forget, students spend every day within the stunning time capsule of City College, eating lunch on the stone benches and playing sports in the grass. Next time you walk down the stairs in the quad under the ancient trees that have shed their leaves year and year again, remember the students who have done the very same thing almost 200 years before you.

The Organs of City College

Among the many organs that were built by Ernest Skinner for academic institutions was the large four-manual instrument for the Great Hall at City College of New York. The exceptionally detailed 30-page contract (June 20, 1906) states that "The Skinner Organ Company" would built the organ for a consideration of $25,000. Interestingly, the Board of Trustees approved only the addition of the Pedal 32' Bombarde at its meeting on December 31, 1907. This organ contained the first two-rank Dulcet, which Skinner described as having a "very slender scale, and ethereal quality of tone" [which] "impart warmth and the shimmering silvery effect peculiar to this stop." Skinner also included a Tuba Mirabilis in the Solo division, an extraordinarily loud and brilliant stop of the trumpet family and voiced on high wind pressure. The organ was installed in two chambers, one on each side at the front of the hall, and was controlled by a movable, four-manual "bat-wing" console. Numerous alterations and additions were made by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. throughout the 1930s. In February 1907, Samuel A. Baldwin (1862-1949), organist of Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, was appointed Associate Professor of Music at City College. Prof. Baldwin organized varied music courses, and was responsible for the choral programs and organ recitals in the Great Hall. On May 20, 1923, Baldwin was officially honored by the City of New York for arranging the musical festival for the city's jubilee celebration and to mark the completion of 900 recitals he had given in the Great Hall. Baldwin received a flag of the City of New York, presented by Supreme Court Justice Charles L. Guy, on behalf of Mayor Hylan, and a gold medal, presented by Dr. William C. Carl, Director of the Guilmant School. The gold medal was established and endowed as an annual prize by Philip Berolzheimer, the City Chamberlain.

The chapel of the College of the Sacred Heart had an organ built in 1889 by J.H. & C.S. Odell of New York City. In the Depression year of 1936, Dave Hennen Morris, former US Ambassador to Belgium, donated his M.P. Möller residence organ to City College. The Factory Specifications (Dec. 12, 1936) show that Möller rebuilt and moved their Op. 1054, originally built in 1910 for the Dave Hennen Morris Residence in Manhattan, to the Pauline Edwards Theatre (later known as Mason Hall) in the "Field Building" at 17 Lexington Avenue. Möller reused the old pipes, replacing some of the super octave (notes 62-73) pipes, and added a new Pedal 16' Open Diapason (wood) plus a 12-pipe 16' extension of the 8' Harmonic Tuba. Möller also provided a new detached, four-manual drawknob console.

It seems likely that there was an organ in the Chapel of the Free Academy on 23rd Street.

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