School of General Studies Records, 1946-2004

The School of General Studies serves as the liberal arts division of Columbia for adults "dedicated to the belief that highly motivated [adult] students should have full access to the quality of instruction offered by the University," in the words of its 1992-1993 Bulletin. It was established as a separate degree-granting school of the University on July 1, 1947, in accordance with a vote of the Trustees on Dec. 2, 1946. General Studies was thus founded in part as a response to the post-World War II influx of returning veterans into the higher education system as "mature students" and it is one example of a broad expansion in educational opportunities that opened to them—and to others—during this period.

As first set up, the School of General Studies was administered by a director, Prof. Harry Morgan Ayres, and a board comprised of the deans of Columbia College and Barnard and representatives of other university faculties. In 1951, Columbia Trustees reorganized the School of General Studies as a college with its own faculty and dean; Louis M. Hacker was appointed as the school's first dean, having served as General Studies' director since 1949. Hacker had himself attended the University Extension—the predecessor of the School of General Studies— as a so-called "subway student."

The School of General Studies indeed traces its origins back to University Extension, which in 1904 began offering courses to part-time students, teachers and other professionals, and non-credit "extramural" courses to the general public. The early emphasis was on practical courses and vocational training, areas which did not conflict with the course offerings and liberal arts mission of Columbia College. In 1911, University Extension began offering courses on business-related subjects, and in 1916, the School of Business was organized with Extension Director James C. Egbert as its head. (From 1924 to 1955, the offices of the University Extension were actually housed in the School of Business.) In terms of attracting students, University Extension was a striking success by most accounts, and by 1926, it claimed some 10,000 students in its various courses and programs, including its "Home Study" courses—essentially correspondence courses—on a wide range of subjects.

While no longer offering extramural and correspondence courses, the School of General Studies continued this history of educational innovation at Columbia. From the beginning, General Studies programs were open to both men and women. Under its "validation" program, students without a high school degree or GED were admitted as matriculated students upon passage of a GS entrance exam. The American Language Program—a descendant of the University Extension's "English for Foreigners" program—continues as one of the country's oldest ESL programs. The School offered evening and weekend courses, geared to fit the schedules of adult students with full-time jobs or family commitments. While accommodations for the realities of "mature" students' non-academic lives are now seen as a given, they represent significant efforts at a democratization of learning at a time when higher educational opportunities were less widely available, especially to those with jobs or those simply older than "traditional" college students.

The mission of the School of General Studies has not always been regarded with complete consensus at Columbia. Different visions of its role in the University collided in 1957 with the publication of the Macmahon Report, which articulated the "proper function" of the School as one providing a "college education for adults" who had "missed" this chance "at a normal college age," rather than providing "adult education" per se and community outreach. The Macmahon Report called for drastic changes in the role of the School of General Studies and in its policies; among these: institution of more rigorous admissions standards and elimination of non-matriculated students, elimination of "narrowly vocational" courses, raising the minimum age of admitted students (to keep General Studies students distinct from those at Columbia and Barnard), and curtailment of many extra-curricular activities. In response, Louis Hacker resigned as dean, citing Columbia's "duty to serve" adults in its metropolitan community. (Among Hacker's other concerns: the large number of special students was seen a necessary source of revenue for General Studies, which derived its income entirely from student fees at this point.)

While not all the Macmahon Report's recommendations were implemented, it did cause significant changes in the School of General Studies, and the School continued to change and evolve in the following years. While Columbia continued to allow non-matriculated students in General Studies, the numbers declined considerably—from over 5,000 in 1957 to about 1,300 by the mid-1980s—and there were other changes too. In 1968, General Studies received the right to award the B.A. degree after much debate, having previously been limited to the B.S., and in 1986, it received permission to award an M.A. in Liberal Studies. Throughout its history, the School of General Studies has represented an important educational opportunity for many adults who might have otherwise been denied higher educational opportunities

Deans: Harry Morgan Ayres, 1946-1948; John A. Krout, 1948-1949; Louis Hacker, 1949-1958; Clifford Lord, 1958-1964; Clarence C. Walton, 1964-1969; Aaron W. Warner, 1969-1976; Ward H. Dennis, 1976-1992; Frank Wolf, 1992-1993; Caroline W. Bynum, 1993-1994; Gillian Lindt, 1994-1997; Peter J. Awn, 1997-2018; Lisa Rosen-Metsch, 2018-.