Cooper Union#The Great Hall

The Cooper Union was founded in 1859{{cite book|title=Charter, Trust Deed, and By-laws of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art|year=1859|publisher=Wm. C. Bryant & Company|page=61}} Founding enabled by a NY State Act of February 17, 1857. The land is conveyed for one dollar. by American industrialist Peter Cooper, one of the richest businessmen in the United States. Cooper was a workingman's son who had less than a year of formal schooling. Cooper designed and built America's first steam railroad engine and made a fortune with a glue factory and iron foundry. He was a principal investor and first president of the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, which laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable, and once ran for President under the Greenback Party, becoming the oldest person ever nominated for the office by a political party.{{Cite web |title=Peter Cooper |url=http://www.ringwoodmanor.org/peter-cooper.html |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Ringwood Manor |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-02-12 |title=Saluting Peter Cooper - Village Preservation |url=https://www.villagepreservation.org/2018/02/12/saluting-peter-cooper/,%20https://www.villagepreservation.org/2018/02/12/saluting-peter-cooper/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=www.villagepreservation.org |language=en-US}}

File:ForArch-1.jpg

Cooper's dream was to give talented young people the one privilege he lacked: a good education from an institution which was "open and free to all".{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwQLAAAAIAAJ&q=1864+peter+cooper+graduating+class+speech+%22open+and+free+to+all%22&pg=PA488 |title=Speech to the First Graduating Class |year=1864}} To achieve these goals, Cooper designated the bulk of his wealth to The Cooper Union. According to The New York Times in 1863, "It was rare that those of limited means, however eager they might be to acquire a knowledge of some of the higher branches of education, could obtain tuition in studies not named in the regular course taught in our public schools." Discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or sex was expressly prohibited.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1863/01/23/news/local-intelligence-cooper-union-most-successful-year-since-its-inauguration-it.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923122213/http://www.nytimes.com/1863/01/23/archives/local-intelligence-the-cooper-union-the-most-successful-year-since.html |archive-date=2018-09-23 |title=The Cooper Union: The Most Successful Year Since its Inauguration. It is now Self-Supporting What is Done in it. The Bedford-street Church Scandal. Court of General Sessions. Before Judge McCunn. The Thumb-Warren Nuptials. Bishop Potter to Perform the Ceremony Great Anxiety on the Part of the Adult Population to See The Performance. A Calumny Silenced. Department of the East. International Postage The English Government Refuses to Reduce Postage. General City News. Brooklyn News. New-Jersey. |date=1863-01-23 |page=2 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=2016-11-05}}

Originally intended to be named simply "the Union", the Cooper Union began with adult education in night classes on the subjects of applied sciences and architectural drawing, as well as day classes primarily intended for women on the subjects of photography, telegraphy, typewriting and shorthand in what was called the college's Female School of Design. The early institution also had a free reading room open day and night, the first in New York City{{cite web |title=Cooper Union |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cooper-Union |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=21 February 2021}} (predating the New York Public Library system),{{cite journal |last1=Holleran |first1=Sam |title=Free as air and water |journal=Places Journal |date=May 2019 |issue=2019 |doi=10.22269/190507 |s2cid=189736575 |doi-access=free }} and a new four-year nighttime engineering college for men and a few women.{{cite book |url=http://www.notnicemusic.com/ACU84.pdf |title=At Cooper Union 125th Anniversary Special Issue |publisher=Cooper Union |year=1984 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}{{cite book |url=http://sangamithra.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/on-amateurs-and-access/ |title=On Amateurs and Access |publisher=WordPress |year=2012 |access-date=December 12, 2012}} In 1883, a five-year curriculum in chemistry was added as an alternative to the applied science (engineering) program.{{cite web |last1=Topper |first1=Robert |title=CU Chemistry and Chemical Engineering History |url=https://engfac.cooper.edu/topper/604 |access-date=12 May 2021}} A daytime engineering college was added in 1902, thanks to funds contributed by Andrew Carnegie. Initial board members included Daniel F. Tiemann,{{cite web |url=http://library.cooper.edu/archive/annual_reports/1859-1860%20Annual%20Report%20Part%201.pdf |title=Annual report |website=library.cooper.edu |access-date=2011-10-27 |archive-date=2017-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502071016/http://library.cooper.edu/archive/annual_reports/1859-1860%20Annual%20Report%20Part%201.pdf |url-status=dead }} John E. Parsons, Horace Greeley and William Cullen Bryant, and those who availed themselves of the institute's courses in its early days included Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Thomas Alva EdisonTopper, Robert. [http://faculty.cooper.edu/topper/general/edison.html "Thomas Edison, Chemistry and Cooper Union"] on the Cooper Union website and William Francis Deegan.

The Cooper Union's free classes have evolved into three schools: the School of Art, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. Since 1859, the Cooper Union has educated thousands of artists, architects, and engineers, many of them leaders in their fields.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110804024657/http://cooper.edu/about-us/history "The Cooper Union: History"] Cooper Union website. Archived on August 4, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2017

After 1864 there were a few attempts to merge Cooper Union and Columbia University, but these were never realized.{{cite book |last=Summerfield |first=Carol J. |title=International Dictionary of University Histories |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |year=1991 |pages=110–116}}

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, was founded in 1897 as part of Cooper Union by Sarah, Eleanor, and Amy Hewitt, granddaughters of Peter Cooper.

File:Cooper Union from Miller's New York as it is (14596084839).jpg

Cooper Union's Foundation Building is an Italianate brownstone building designed by architect Fred A. Petersen, one of the founders of the American Institute of Architects. It was the first structure in New York City to feature rolled-iron I-beams for structural support; Peter Cooper himself invented and produced these beams.{{cite news |last=Hechinger |first=John |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124631610981670647 |title=One College Sidesteps the Crisis |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=June 30, 2009 |page=c1}} Petersen patented a fire-resistant hollow brick tile he used in the building's construction.{{cite book|first=Orli|last=Zuravicky|title=New York and the New Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulfhnhW9zTMC&q=Fred+A.+Petersen+Cooper+Union&pg=PA24|date=August 2002|publisher=Rosen Classroom|isbn=978-0-8239-8408-4|page=24}}{{cite web|url=http://www.di.net/articles/architects-concrete-contributions/|title=Architects' Concrete Contributions|work=di.net|access-date=September 13, 2015}} The building was the first in the world to be built with an elevator shaft, because Cooper, in 1853, was confident an elevator would soon be invented. However, he expected them to be cylindrical, so he designed the shaft in the shape of a circle.{{cite web | title = History of the Modern Elevator | publisher = TradeMark Properties | date = June 30, 2013 | url = http://www.trademarkproperties.com/elevator | access-date = March 20, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141129153953/http://www.trademarkproperties.com/elevator | archive-date = November 29, 2014 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }} The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961,{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=66000540}}|title="Cooper Union", by Richard Greenwood.|work=National Register of Historic Places Inventory|date=August 8, 1975|publisher=National Park Service}}{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=66000540|photos=y}}|title=Cooper Union—Accompanying Photos, exterior, from 1975.|work=National Register of Historic Places Inventory|date=August 8, 1975|publisher=National Park Service}} and a New York City Landmark in 1965,{{cite nycland}}, p.65 and added to the Historic American Engineering Record in 1971.{{HAER |id=ny0359 |survey=NY-20 |title=Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art, Third & Fourth Avenues, Astor Place, Seventh Street, New York, New York County, NY |photos=20|dwgs=20|data=68}}

File:Abraham Lincoln 1860.jpg February 27, 1860, the day of his famous Cooper Union speech in New York]]

On February 27, 1860, the school's Great Hall, located in the basement level of the Foundation Building, became the site of a historic address by Abraham Lincoln.{{cite magazine |last=Holzer |first=Harold |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/speech-made-man |title=The Speech that Made the Man |magazine=American Heritage |date=Winter 2010 |volume=59 |issue=4}} "Lincoln made his address on a snowy night before about 1,500 persons."{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/liho/planyourvisit/upload/Cooper%20Union%20Front%20and%20Back-2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217070114/http://www.nps.gov/liho/planyourvisit/upload/Cooper%20Union%20Front%20and%20Back-2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2008|title=The Cooper Union Address -The Making of a Candidate|website=National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior|publisher=Lincoln Home}}

Widely reported in the press and reprinted throughout the North in pamphlet form, the speech galvanized support for Lincoln and contributed to his gaining the Party's nomination for the presidency. It is now referred to as the Cooper Union Address.{{cite magazine |last=Holzer |first=Harold |url=http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2004/2/2004_2_19.shtml |title=Still a Great Hall After All |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201164937/http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2004/2/2004_2_19.shtml |archive-date=December 1, 2008 |magazine=American Heritage |date=April–May 2004 |volume=55 |issue=2}}

Since then, the Great Hall has served as a platform for historic addresses by American Presidents Grant, Cleveland,

{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/10/28/104151135.pdf|title=Praised By the Germans; Mr. Cleveland Greeted With Wild Applause. His Friends From "Fatherland" Throng Cooper Union. |access-date=June 24, 2010|date=October 28, 1892|page=1|newspaper=The New York Times|quote=It might be claiming too much to say that the Democratic Party as such gives a sufficient guarantee for the improvement of political methods or avoidance of these wrongdoings.}} Taft,{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/01/11/104714614.pdf|work=The New York Times|title=Taft Defends Both Capital and Labor; Tells Cooper Union Audience He's for Union Shops and Mutual Conciliation. Not Hailed As President Cordial Greeting at First Grows Warmer After He Answers Volley of Questions. |date=January 11, 1908 |page=1 |access-date=June 24, 2010 |quote=Give the Government the ownership of mines and railroads and like enterprises, and I tremble to think of the danger to the Republic.}}

Theodore Roosevelt,{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/11/04/301924712.pdf |work=The New York Times |quote=I have not said one thing of him which I did not deem it necessary to say because of the vital interests of this Republic. |title=Roosevelt Bitterly Attacks Wilson; Tells Cooper Union Audience the President Cares Nothing for the Nation's Soul. |page=4 |date=November 4, 1916 |access-date=June 21, 2010}}{{cite book|title=Americanism and preparedness: Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt, July to November, 1916|publisher=The Mail and express job print|location=New York|year=1917|quote=There can be no greater misfortune for a free nation than to find itself under incapable leadership when confronted by a great crisis.|url=https://archive.org/details/americanismprepa00roos|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanismprepa00roos/page/134 134]–145|access-date=June 21, 2010|last=Roosevelt|first=Theodore}} Woodrow Wilson,{{ cite book| title=The New Freedom: A call for the emancipation of the generous energies of a people|publisher=Doubleday, Page & Company|location=New York|year=1913|quote=One of the valuable lessons of my life was due to the fact that at a comparatively early age in my experience as a public speaker I had the privilege of speaking in Cooper Union in New York.|url=https://archive.org/details/newfreedomacall01halegoog|access-date=June 21, 2010|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newfreedomacall01halegoog/page/n112 98]–99|last=Wilson|first=Woodrow}}{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/11/20/120289920.pdf|title=Wilson Says Elasticity Saves the Constitution; Made to Help, Not to Hinder, Asserts Princeton's President. |quote=The Constitution was not made to fit us like a straitjacket.| work=The New York Times|page=5|date=November 20, 1904|access-date=June 21, 2010}}{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/11/03/100227256.pdf|work=The New York Times|title=Three Big Meetings Here; President Says Some in Campaign Have Tried to Discredit Government. Effort to Divide Classes Tells 15,000 in Madison Square Garden the Country Stands at a Serious Turning Point. Predicts His Re-election. President and Mrs. Wilson Scale Fire Escape to Get Into Garden.|date=November 3, 1916|page=1|access-date=June 21, 2010|quote=Cooper Union Packed; Enthusiastic Throng Cheers the President for Five Minutes}} and Bill Clinton. Clinton spoke on May 12, 1993, about reducing the federal deficit and again on May 23, 2006, as the Keynote Speaker at The Cooper Union's 147th Commencement, along with Anna Deavere Smith.{{cite web|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/WCPD-1993-05-17/pdf/WCPD-1993-05-17-Pg835.pdf|title=Remarks at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City|work=Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 19|pages=835–841|date=May 17, 1993|publisher=GPO|access-date=June 21, 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/news/press_relarchive.html#commencement|publisher=Cooper Union|title=FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON TO DELIVER KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT THE 147th COMMENCEMENT OF THE COOPER UNION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND ART; ANNA DEAVERE SMITH IS COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER|access-date=June 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527192624/http://www.cooper.edu/news/press_relarchive.html#commencement|archive-date=May 27, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} He appeared a third time on April 23, 2007, along with Senator Edward Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer, and others, at the memorial service for historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Most recently, Barack Obama delivered an economic policy speech at Cooper Union's Great Hall on April 22, 2010.[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/business/economy/23obama.html?hp Obama to Wall St.: "Join Us, Instead of Fighting Us," The New York Times, April 22, 2010]{{cite web|url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2010/DCPD-201000290.pdf|title=Remarks at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City|work=Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents;Administration of Barack H. Obama, 2010|pages=1–6|date=April 22, 2010|publisher=GPO|id=DCPD Number: DCPD201000290|access-date=June 21, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808081328/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2010/DCPD-201000290.pdf|archive-date=August 8, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} On September 22, 2014, President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas delivered his first formal speech in English.{{cite web|url=https://cooper.edu/about/news/webcast-mahmoud-abbas-great-hall |title=WEBCAST: MAHMOUD ABBAS IN THE GREAT HALL |publisher=Cooper.edu|date=2014-09-22|access-date=2019-10-31}}

Other historic speakers in the Great Hall have included Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mark Twain.[http://cooper.edu/about/history "The Cooper Union: History"] Cooper Union website. Retrieved October 1, 2017{{Cite book |author-link=Albert Paine |first=Albert Bigelow |last=Paine |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2983/2983-h/2983-h.htm#link2H_4_0063&:~:text=But%20when%20we,I%20was%20in%20paradise |title=Mark Twain, A Biography: The Personal and Literary Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens |publisher=Harper & Brothers Publishers |year=1912 |location=New York |oclc=31753561 |quote=But when we got near the building I saw that all the streets were blocked with people, and that traffic had stopped. I couldn't believe that these people were trying to get into Cooper Institute; but they were, and when I got to the stage at last the house was jammed full-packed; there wasn't room enough left for a child. I was happy and I was excited beyond expression. I poured the Sandwich Islands out on those people, and they laughed and shouted to my entire content. For an hour and fifteen minutes I was in paradise. |access-date=10 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503182305/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2983/2983-h/2983-h.htm#link2H_4_0063&:~:text=But%20when%20we,I%20was%20in%20paradise |archive-date=3 May 2024 |url-status=live}}

The Great Hall continues to serve as an important metropolitan art space and has hosted lectures and performances by such key figures as Joseph Campbell, Steve Reich, Salman Rushdie, Ralph Nader, Hamza Yusuf, Richard Stallman, Rudolph Giuliani, Pema Chodron, Michael Bloomberg, Evo Morales, and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. When not occupied by external or hosted events, the Great Hall is made accessible to students and faculty for large lectures and recreational activities, including the school's annual Culture Show. In 1994, the Cooper Union Forum of Public Programs was honored with a Village Award from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.{{cite web|title=Past Village Award Winners|url=http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/events/awards.htm|website=GVSHP.org|access-date=1 June 2015|archive-date=28 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528014847/http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/events/awards.htm|url-status=dead}} File:New Great Hall Entrance.jpg

In late 2008, the Great Hall was closed to students and outside events for the first major renovation of the hall since 1978. It reopened in March 2009.{{cite web |url=http://atcooper.cooper.edu/pdfs/ACUs09_briefs.pdf |title=Briefs |website=atcooper.cooper.edu |access-date=October 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719175236/http://atcooper.cooper.edu/pdfs/ACUs09_briefs.pdf |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

The Cooper Union maintains an archive of ephemera and recordings from events that have taken place in the Great Hall through the [https://greathallvoices.cooper.edu/ Voices from the Great Hall] Digital Access Project.

The Cooper Union has schools in architecture, fine art, and engineering. At present, these three fields represent Cooper Union's degree programs. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies provides classes and faculty to all three programs.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/humanities|title=Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences|publisher=Cooper.edu|access-date=May 16, 2016}}

In 2002, the school decided to generate revenue by razing its engineering building and having it replaced with a commercial building, and replacing its Hewitt Building with a new building called 41 Cooper Square.{{cite news |title=City Planners Approve Cooper Union High-Rises, Citing College's Public Benefits |first=Lydia |last=Polgreen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/04/nyregion/city-planners-approve-cooper-union-high-rises-citing-college-s-public-benefits.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 4, 2002 |access-date=October 1, 2017}}

{{main|41 Cooper Square}}

File:Cooper Union - Cooper Union Academic Building (48072701728).jpg

A new classroom, laboratory, and studio facility designed by Thom Mayne replaced the aging Hewitt Academic Building at 41 Cooper Square. In contrast to the Foundation Building, 41 Cooper Square is of modern, environmentally "green" design, housing nine above-ground floors and two basements. The structure features unconventional architectural features, including a full-height Grand Atrium, prevalent interior windows, a four-story linear central staircase, and upper-level skyways, which reflect the design intention of inspiring, socially interactive space for students and faculty. In addition, the building's design allows for up to 75% natural lighting, further reducing energy costs. In 2010, 41 Cooper Square became the first academic and laboratory structure in New York City to meet Platinum-level LEED standards for energy efficiency.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/cubuilds/green.html|title=The Cooper Union Builds | Naming Opportunities|publisher=Cooper.edu|access-date=March 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516224219/http://www.cooper.edu/cubuilds/green.html|archive-date=May 16, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} The building was funded in part by alumni donations, materialized in nameplates and other textual recognition throughout the building.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/cubuilds/donors.html |title=The Cooper Union Builds | Donors |publisher=Cooper.edu |access-date=March 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106133651/http://www.cooper.edu/cubuilds/donors.html |archive-date=January 6, 2011 }}

File:Atrium and Staircase Interior.jpg

Primarily designed to house the Cooper Union's School of Engineering and School of Art, the new building's first eight above-ground floors are populated by classrooms, small engineering laboratories, study lounges, art studio space, and faculty offices. The ninth, top floor is dedicated completely to School of Art studio and classroom space in addition to the art studio spaces located throughout the building. The lowest basement level consists almost completely of the school's large machine shops and design laboratories, as well as much of the HVAC and supply infrastructure. The building's first basement level houses primarily the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, a 198-capacity lecture hall and event space designed as a smaller, more modern alternative to the Great Hall.{{cite web |title=Frederick P. Rose Auditorium |url=https://cooper.edu/about/galleries-auditoriums/rose-auditorium |publisher=Cooper Union |access-date=5 March 2021}}

File:Wikipedia Audio - Cooper Union (Financial Support).wav

A substantial portion of the annual budget, which supports the full-tuition scholarships in addition to the school's costs, is generated through revenues from real estate. Its endowment is over $600 million.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/business/13cooper.html|title=Smart Land Deals as a Cornerstone of Free Tuition|first=Alison|last=Gregor|work=The New York Times|date=February 13, 2008}} The land under the Chrysler Building is owned by the endowment, and as of 2009, Cooper Union received $7 million per year from this parcel. Further, under a very unusual arrangement, New York City real-estate taxes assessed against the Chrysler lease, held by Aby Rosen,{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/399a6c9c-70d1-11e9-bbfb-5c68069fbd15 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/399a6c9c-70d1-11e9-bbfb-5c68069fbd15 |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=What does property mogul Aby Rosen see in the Chrysler building?|newspaper=Financial Times|date=May 10, 2019|last1=Chaffin|first1=Joshua}} are paid to Cooper Union, not the city. This arrangement would be voided if Cooper Union sold the real estate. In 2006, Tishman Speyer signed a deal with the school to pay rent that has escalated to $32.5 million in 2018.

{{see also|Cooper Union financial crisis and tuition protests}}

Around October 29, 2011, rumors circulated the school was in serious financial trouble. On October 31, a series of open forums were held with students, faculty, and alumni to address a financial crisis.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/nyregion/cooper-union-may-charge-tuition-to-undergraduates.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102103725/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/education/cooper-union-may-charge-tuition-to-undergraduates.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all |archive-date=November 2, 2011|work=The New York Times|title=Cooper Union, Long Free but in Financial Distress, Looks at Charging Tuition (Cooper Union Looks at Charging Tuition) |first=Richard |last=Pérez-Peña |author-link=Richard Pérez-Peña |date=October 31, 2011 |access-date=October 31, 2011}}

Current and past students voiced opposition to charging tuition.{{cite web |title=Free Cooper Union |url=https://cusos.org/ |publisher=Free Cooper Union |access-date=21 December 2020}}{{cite web |title=News Archive of the Cooper Pioneer |url=http://www.notnicemusic.com/Cassandra/cooper_news_archive.html |website=The Cooper Union Alumni Pioneer |publisher=Barry Drogin |access-date=21 December 2020}} The then-president of the school, Jamshed Bharucha, indicated depletion of the school's endowment required additional sources of funding. In 2012, the college announced approval from its board of trustees to attempt to establish a new tuition-based cross-disciplinary graduate program, expand its fee-based continuing education programs, and impose tuition on some students in its existing graduate programs.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/nyregion/cooper-union-will-charge-tuition-for-graduate-students.html|work=The New York Times|title=Cooper Union Will Charge Tuition for Graduate Students|first=Richard|last=Pérez-Peña|author-link=Richard Pérez-Peña|date=April 24, 2012|access-date=June 15, 2012}}{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303592404577364434200598276|work=The Wall Street Journal|title=Cooper Union to Charge|first=Lisa|last=Fleisher|date=April 24, 2012|access-date=April 24, 2012}}

In December 2012, as a protest against the possibility of undergraduate tuition being charged, 11 students occupied a suiteKaminer, Ariel. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/nyregion/cooper-union-protesters-living-high-life-out-of-presidents-office.html "Tuition Protesters Still in Top Office at Cooper Union"] The New York Times (May 24, 2013) in the Foundation Building for a week.Moynihan, Colin. [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/cooper-union-students-end-occupation-of-suite-after-a-week/ "Cooper Union Students End Occupation of Suite After a Week"] The New York Times (December 10, 2012) Charging high tuition was complicated by the school's lack of customary amenities offered by other high-tuition schools.{{cite news|title=Cooper Union's Free Tuition Tradition May Be Near Its End|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/nyregion/cooper-unions-tradition-of-free-tuition-may-be-near-end.html|access-date=February 16, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 15, 2013|author=Ariel Kramer}}

The college ended its free tuition policy for undergraduates in 2014, but offers need-based tuition remission to incoming undergraduates on a sliding scale.{{cite news|last=Kaminer|first=Ariel|title=College Ends Free Tuition, and an Era|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/nyregion/cooper-union-to-charge-undergraduates-tuition.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=May 26, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 23, 2013}} On May 8, 2013, a group of students occupied President Bharucha's office in protest over news reports about ending free tuition. The administration, board of trustees, and those members of the Cooper Union community who had been occupying the Office of the President since early May reached an agreement that ended the occupation on July 12.{{cite web|url=http://cooper.edu/about/news/occupation-presidents-office-ends|title=Occupation of President's Office Ends|work=cooper.edu|access-date=September 13, 2015}}

Throughout 2013, 2014, and 2015, the committee to Save Cooper Union (CSCU) — a coalition of former and current students, alumni and faculty — campaigned to reverse this decision, urging the president and the board of trustees to return Cooper Union to "its tuition-free and merit-based mission, ensure the school’s fiscal recovery, and establish better governance structures."{{cite web|url=http://savecooperunion.org/updates/a_second_chance_for_cooper_union.php|title=A Second Chance For Cooper Union|website=Committee to Save Cooper Union}}

On September 1, 2015, the school and the CSCU announced the CSCU's lawsuit against the school's administration was resolved in the form of a consent decree signed by Cooper Union, then-New York State's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and the CSCU. The decree includes provisions for returning to a sustainable, tuition-free policy, increased board transparency, additional student, faculty and alumni trustees, an independent financial monitor appointed by the Attorney General, and a search committee to identify the next full-term president.{{cite news|last1=Bagli|first1=Charles|title=New York Attorney General Reaches Deal to End Litigation at Cooper Union|work=The New York Times |date=September 2, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/nyregion/new-york-attorney-general-crafts-deal-to-end-litigation-at-cooper-union.html?_r=0|access-date=September 2, 2015}}{{cite web|title = The Committee to Save Cooper Union|url = http://savecooperunion.org|website = savecooperunion.org|access-date = September 2, 2015}}Staff. [http://diverseeducation.com/article/77609/ "New York Reaches Deal with Cooper Union, Plaintiffs"] Diverse: Issues in Higher Education (September 2, 2015)

On January 15, 2018, the Free Education Committee (FEC) of the school's Board of Trustees released their recommended plan to return to full-tuition scholarships for undergraduates only by the academic year starting in the fall of 2028.{{cite web|date=January 15, 2018|url=https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/site/files/2018/FEC_Report_Jan18.pdf|title=Recommended Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships}} In March 2018, the board released its approved, updated version with the same milestone.{{cite web|date=June 2018|url=https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/site/files/2018/PlantoFree_sprds.pdf|title=The Cooper Union Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships }} In 2024, the school announced that approximately 83% of undergraduate tuition costs would be covered by scholarships in the 2024–2025 academic year and that they were proceeding as planned towards their goal of 100% coverage in the 2029 fiscal year.{{Cite book |last=Cooper Union Board of Trustees |url=https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/site/files/2024/PlanAtFiveYearReport.pdf |title=THE PLAN AT FIVE YEARS: RETURNING TO FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP |date=June 2024 |publisher=The Cooper Union}}

File:Wikipedia Audio - Cooper Union (Academics, et al.).wavAdmission to Cooper Union is highly competitive, with an acceptance rate of 12% across the three schools.{{cite book |last1=Fiske |first1=Edward B. |title=Fiske Guide to Colleges 2020 |date=15 June 2019 |publisher=Sourcebooks |isbn=978-1-4926-6494-9 |edition=36th |location=Naperville, Illinois |publication-date=June 15, 2019 |pages=188–190}}{{Cite web |title=Facts About Cooper Union |url=https://cooper.edu/admissions/facts |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=The Cooper Union |language=en}}{{Infobox US university ranking

| USNWR_REG = 2

| Wamo_BAC = 1

}}

The Cooper Union's School of Engineering is named in honor of Albert Nerken, a chemical engineering alumnus of the school.{{cite news |title=Albert Nerken, 79, an Engineer, Industrialist and Philanthropist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/30/nyregion/albert-nerken-79-an-engineer-industrialist-and-philanthropist.html |access-date=19 September 2021 |work=The New York Times |last=Lambert |first=Bruce |date=July 30, 1992}} Its enrollment includes about 550 students, and is the largest of the three schools by a significant margin. The school offers ABET-accredited Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree programs in core engineering fields and an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) degree. Opportunities are also available for engineering students to pursue minors in bioengineering, chemistry, computer science, humanities and social sciences, and mathematics.{{cite web |title=Engineering Minors |url=https://cooper.edu/engineering/curriculum/minors |publisher=The Cooper Union |access-date=18 February 2023}}

Specialized facilities for teaching and research include the Maurice Kanbar Center for Biomedical Engineering established in 2002{{cite web |title=Maurice Kanbar Center for Biomedical Engineering |url=https://cooper.edu/engineering/facilities/kanbar-center |publisher=The Cooper Union |access-date=8 September 2021}}{{cite web |title=Cooper Union Receives $10 Million from The Starr Foundation to create the C.V. Starr Research Foundation, and to create and endow professorship and scholarships |url=https://starrfoundation.org/cooper-union-receives-10-million-from-the-starr-foundation-to-create-the-c-v-starr-research-foundationand-to-create-and-endow-professorship-and-scholarships/ |publisher=The Starr Foundation |access-date=8 September 2021}} and the interdisciplinary Maker Space Lab, established in 2020 for the use of engineering, art, and architecture students.{{cite web |title=ONE LAB FOR ALL |url=https://cooper.edu/about/news/one-lab-all |publisher=The Cooper Union |access-date=8 September 2021}}

The School of Engineering offers master's degrees in chemical, civil, electrical, or mechanical engineering. Cooper Union undergraduate engineering students may earn a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in as little as five years.{{cite web |title=MASTER'S DEGREE REQUIREMENTS |url=https://cooper.edu/engineering/curriculum/master |publisher=Cooper Union |access-date=19 September 2021}}

File:Cooper Engineering School Office.jpg

File:Cooper Union School of the Arts CSq E6 jeh.jpg

Consisting of roughly 200 students and 70 faculty members,{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/art/faculty.html|title=Faculty » The Cooper Union|publisher=Cooper.edu|access-date=March 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106100307/http://www.cooper.edu/art/faculty.html|archive-date=January 6, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} the Cooper Union School of Art offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree and a Certificate of Fine Arts.{{cite web|url=http://scientia.cooper.edu/registrar/cat0910_art.pdf |title=Registrar |website=scientia.cooper.edu }} As a member school of AICAD, School of Art students may participate in exchange programs with the other colleges in the association, including California Institute of the Arts and Otis College of Art and Design.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/art/mobility.html|title=School of Art » The Cooper Union|publisher=Cooper.edu|date=November 20, 2010|access-date=March 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106174353/http://www.cooper.edu/art/mobility.html|archive-date=January 6, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

The Cooper Union Art program is often referred to as "generalist" or "versatile" when compared to other Fine Arts colleges; incoming students do not choose an academic major within the Fine Arts field, but instead are permitted and encouraged to select courses from any of the School of Art's departments.{{cite web|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/finance-insurance-real-estate/real-estate/4410847-1.html|title=The Cooper Union Appoints Saskia Bos Museum Director and Noted Curator to Head School of Art | Entertainment & Arts > Art & Artists from|publisher=AllBusiness.com|access-date=March 16, 2011}} The curriculum place heavy emphasis on each student's creative and imaginative abilities, rather than technical precision in a specific medium.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/art/Welcome.html|title=School of Art » The Cooper Union|publisher=Cooper.edu|date=November 20, 2010|access-date=March 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106095833/http://www.cooper.edu/art/Welcome.html|archive-date=January 6, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

File:NAB 9th floor studio.jpg

Located in both public spaces and specialized rooms, Cooper Union's galleries provide space for installations and showcases by students, faculty, and guest artists.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooper.edu/art/exhibitions.html|title=Exhibitions » The Cooper Union|publisher=Cooper.edu|access-date=March 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106074822/http://www.cooper.edu/art/exhibitions.html|archive-date=January 6, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Popular gallery locations include the Great Hall lobby in the Foundation Building and newly opened 41 Cooper Gallery in 41 Cooper Square, which provides a two-story high space for large, three-dimensional exhibitions and works visible from both the building lobby and 7th street through large plate-glass windows.{{cite web |title=41 Cooper Gallery: The Cooper Union |url=https://cooper.edu/engineering/41-cooper-gallery |access-date=15 July 2021}}

In addition, numerous smaller exhibition spaces exist throughout both buildings on campus. Larger spaces on the upper floors of the Foundation Building are used primarily for interdisciplinary exhibitions with the School of Architecture. For presentations of video and digital media, the Great Hall and 41 Cooper Square's Rose Auditorium are used.{{clear left}}

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union offers a five-year NAAB accredited program established by John Hejduk. The philosophical foundation of the school was directly committed to the "Social Contract" and dedicated to education as "one of the last places that protects freedom, and teaching as a sociopolitical act, among other things."{{cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |author-link=Herbert Muschamp |date=July 6, 2000 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/06/arts/john-hejduk-an-architect-and-educator-dies-at-71.html |title=John Hejduk, an Architect And Educator, Dies at 71 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 15, 2023}} Among those other things were principles of free debate and theoretical discourse which drew source from deep wellsprings of lost histories such as the Bauhaus school of Architecture founded by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

The faculty includes architects, design and construction managers such as Peter Eisenman, Samuel Anderson, Nader Tehrani, and Diana Agrest. Former faculty members include the architects Michael Webb, Peter Eisenman, Raimund Abraham, Lebbeus Woods, Diane Lewis and John Hejduk.

The post-professional degree program in architecture was launched in 2009.{{cite web|last=Petrunia|first=Paul|date=April 21, 2008|url=http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=74317_0_24_0_M89|title=New MArch II at Cooper Union|work=archinect.com|access-date=September 13, 2015}} Concentrations in one or a combination of three areas are offered: theory, history and criticism of architecture, urban studies and technologies.{{cite web|url=http://cooper.edu/architecture/the-school/master-architecture-ii|title=Master of Architecture II|work=cooper.edu|access-date=September 13, 2015}}

Cooper Union has developed an athletic program{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/16/nyregion/athletics-at-cooper-union-precisely.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109192908/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/16/nyregion/athletics-at-cooper-union-precisely.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=9 January 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Nichole M. |last=Christian |title=Athletics at Cooper Union? Precisely |date=December 16, 2000}}{{cbignore}} which fields teams in basketball, volleyball, and soccer.{{cite web |title=Cooper Union Athletics |url=https://cooper.edu/students/student-affairs/athletics |publisher=The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art |access-date=8 April 2022}}

{{main|Notable alumni of Cooper Union}}

{{Further|Category:Cooper Union alumni}}

Awards received by Cooper Union alumni include a Nobel Prize in Physics, a Pritzker Prize, 3 National Medal of Arts Awards, 15 Rome Prizes, 26 Guggenheim Fellowships, 3 MacArthur Fellowships, 9 Chrysler Design Awards, 3 Emmy Awards, a Tony, a Grammy, a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, and 3 Thomas Jefferson Awards for Public Architecture. The institution has also had 40 Fulbright Scholars since 2001 and 13 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships since 2004.

{{Further|Presidents of Cooper Union}}

{{Further|Category:Cooper Union faculty}}

Notable faculty of the Cooper Union include:

• Diana Agrest, architect
• Eleanor K. Baum, electrical engineer
• Peter Eisenman, architect
• William Germano, editor
• Hans Haacke, artist
• Ricardo Scofidio, architect
• Coco Fusco, artist
• Lucy Raven, artist

{{In popular culture|date=July 2023}}

Film

• In Susan Skoog's coming-of-age independent film Whatever (1998), precocious suburban teen Anna Stockard (Liza Weil) harbors dreams of moving to the city to study art at the Cooper Union in the early 80s.{{cite web |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=160508 |title=Whatever |website=The New York Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031004203310/http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=160508 |archive-date=October 4, 2003}}
• The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby features the New Academic Building.{{cite news |last=Darville |first=Sarah |url=http://eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/rigby-goes-down-james-mcavoy-spotted-in-cooper-square/ |work=The New York Times |title='Rigby' Goes Down: James McAvoy Spotted in Cooper Square |date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803024630/http://eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/rigby-goes-down-james-mcavoy-spotted-in-cooper-square/ |archive-date=August 3, 2012}}
• Winter's Tale (2014) was filmed at Cooper's foundation building to fit the novel's early 1900 setting.{{cite news |title='Winter's Tale' filming today around Cooper Square; Russell Crowe alert |url=https://evgrieve.com/2012/12/a-winters-tale-filming-today-around.html |access-date=3 September 2021 |publisher=EV Grieve |date=December 2, 2012}}

Literature

• The Cooper Union acts as a symbol of Progressivism in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel His Family (1917) by Ernest Poole, as well as in the novel From Immigrant to Inventor (1924) by Michael Pupin.
• Cooper Union is the meeting place of two main characters in The Gilded Hour (2015), a historical novel by Sara Donati. The characters meet at Abraham Lincoln's 1860 speech at Cooper Union.{{cite web |title=COOPER UNION |url=https://thegildedhour.com/cooper-union/ |website=Historical Fiction by Sara Donati |access-date=30 September 2021}}{{cite book |last1=Donati |first1=Sara |author-link1=Rosina Lippi |title=The Guilded Hour |date=2015 |publisher=Berkley Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0425283349}}

Television

• 41 Cooper Square was frequently shown in episodes of the television series Instinct, wherein it was depicted as the NYC 11th police precinct.{{cite news |last1=Blake |first1=Lindsay |title=Alan Cumming Calls Brooklyn's Historic William Ulmer Brewery Home on 'Instinct' |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/alan-cumming-calls-brooklyn-s-historic-william-ulmer-brewery-home-on-instinct/ar-AAMuLu6 |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326222705/https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/alan-cumming-calls-brooklyn-s-historic-william-ulmer-brewery-home-on-instinct/ar-AAMuLu6 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |access-date=26 March 2022 |publisher=MSN |date=July 23, 2021}}

{{portal|Art|Architecture|Education|New York City}}

• Presidents of Cooper Union
• Association of Independent Technological Universities

{{clear}}

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Cooper Union}}

{{EB1911 poster|Cooper Union}}

• {{Official website|https://cooper.edu/}}
• [http://library.cooper.edu/archive/foundation_building_frameset.html Information about Cooper Union and the Foundation Building from The Cooper Union Library and Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126155426/http://library.cooper.edu/archive/foundation_building_frameset.html |date=2020-01-26 }}
• [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/march/the-cooper-union.htm Original 1861 Harper's Weekly Story on the Cooper Union]
• {{HAER |survey=NY-20 |id=ny0359 |title=Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art}}

{{Navboxes

|title=Articles and topics related to Cooper Union

|state=collapsed

|list1=

{{Northeast U.S. Art Colleges}}

{{NYC Colleges}}

{{Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design}}

{{East Village, Manhattan}}

{{New York City Historic Sites}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York}}

}}

{{Authority control}}

{{coord|40.72927| -73.99058|region:US_type:edu|display=title}}

Category:1859 establishments in New York (state)

Category:Architecture schools in New York City

Category:Art museums and galleries in Manhattan

Category:Art schools in New York City

Category:East Village, Manhattan

Category:Universities and colleges established in 1859

Category:Graphic design schools in the United States

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in New York City

Category:National Historic Landmarks in Manhattan

Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

Category:Peter Cooper

Category:Private universities and colleges in New York City

Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan

Category:Technological universities in the United States

Category:Universities and colleges in Manhattan

Category:Universities and colleges in New York City

Category:University art museums and galleries in New York City

Category:Astor Place

Category:New York State Register of Historic Places in New York County