Columbia University Trivia Quiz

Answer: King's College

In the wake of the American Revolution, the name "King's College" was replaced by the more patriotic "Columbia". Emigrating British Loyalist alumni founded "The University of King's College" in Nova Scotia in 1789. They protested Columbia's claim to lineage from the old Royal Charter of 1754.

The dispute was resolved by Columbia's full official name, "Columbia University in the City of New York".

Answer: Doctor of Medicine

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of King's College opened in 1767. Classes were suspended during the British occupation of New York City during the American Revolution. The college re-opened in late 1784. Today, "P & S" enjoys a close relationship with Weill Cornell Medical College, but the two institutions maintain their separate identities.

Answer: Bombarded the College of New Jersey (later, Princeton University)

Hamilton commanded an artillery unit during the Battle of Princeton in 1777. Some claim that he personally aimed a shot through a window of Nassau Hall at the portrait of King George III. The story cannot be verified, but nicks in the wall are still visible today. Columbia Lions and Princeton Tigers are less violent rivals today.

Answer: Mining

Take that, Colorado! Columbia's School of Mines was more oriented toward engineering than picks and drills. Its most famous early graduate was Herman Hollerith (Class of 1879), who later founded IBM.

In 1864, institution was still called "Columbia College" despite the increasing number of graduate schools. Under the Presidency of Seth Low, beginning in 1890, the diverse colleges and faculties were coalesced under a centralized administration. This culminated in the change of name to "Columbia University" in 1896.

Answer: The Bloomingdale Insane Asylum

The asylum's only surviving structure is the former "Macy Villa" on 116th Street. This handsome red brick building once housed wealthy patients in elegant surroundings. It is now called Buell Hall. Appropriately, it's used by the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Answer: An owl

Legends have it that the first Columbia College freshman to spot the owl will (a) be the class valedictorian and/or (b) marry a student from Barnard College. There are no available statistics to support either proposition, and no legends for graduate students.

Answer: Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR resigned from the Class of 1907 after passing the New York Bar - a law degree wasn't required in those days. He was posthumously forgiven for his "court-packing scheme" of 1937, which targeted alumnus, Associate Justice and former Columbia Law School Dean Harlan Stone among others. FDR later nominated Columbia graduate William O. Douglas to the high court.

The two Roosevelts were in good company. Future U.S. Supreme Court Justices Benjamin Cardozo and Joseph McKenna also left Columbia Law without graduating; Justice Stanley Reed attended Law School at both Columbia and the University of Virginia, but did not graduate from either one.

Answer: Admit women undergraduates

In Columbia's defense, many graduate programs were open to women beginning in the 19th century.

After a long courtship, Columbia proposed marriage to all-female Barnard College in the early 1980s, but was rebuffed. The spurned suitor then began accepting women undergraduates. Today, the couple enjoy a cozy but unconventional relationship. Barnard is a separately-chartered institution, but is also known as "Barnard College of Columbia University." Barnard diplomas are signed by the Presidents of both schools.

Answer: A rowdy marching band concert

Orgo = Organic Chemistry, bane of premeds nationwide. At midnight before the undergraduate Organic Chemistry final, Columbia's marching band disrupts students cramming for the test with a raucous mix of loud music, jokes and generally benign antics. The parade (or mob) usually visits Barnard College, where the ladies bombard revelers with water balloons and less pleasant detritus. All in good fun. Well, some of the jokes aren't suitable for posting.

Answer: The invention of FM radio

The statue outside Philosophy Hall is Rodin's "The Thinker." Perhaps it should be Columbia alumnus and Professor Edwin Armstrong, a prolific inventor. In the early 1930s, he devised practical FM radio in his basement laboratory. Armstrong was fond of working in strange venues.

He developed the superheterodyne receiver while serving with the US Army in France during World War I. He built the first regenerative circuit by tinkering in the attic of his parents' home in Yonkers, New York.