Cornell North Campus

North Campus is a residential section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. It primarily houses freshmen. North Campus offers programs which ease the transition into college life for incoming freshmen. The campus offers interactions with faculty and other programs designed to increase interaction among members of the freshman class. North Campus is part of Cornell's residential initiative.

From 1913 to 1970, the area north of Fall Creek held Cornell's women-only dormitories. Risley (1913), Comstock (1925), Balch (1929), Dickson (1946) and Donlon (1961) were referred to as the "women's dorms." Visitation by men was so regimented that mobs of freshmen men would gather to storm the area in "panty raids" seeking undergarment mementos. During this period, women had limited opportunities to attend Ivy League schools, and the limited number of dorm rooms available to female freshmen students was used to calculate a female admission quota for each college. As a result, female applicants needed higher test scores and GPAs than male applicants to gain admission to Cornell.

The original master plan for the area called for the pattern of Balch-type courtyards to be extended northward. Dickson was built consistent with the spirit of the plan. The construction of Donlon broke with the plan with a high-rise modern design. All of these buildings were designed for women and included self-contained dining facilities as well as parlors for receiving male visitors. Noyes Lodge offered an open dining hall to serve the area.

Fuertes Observatory, built on a knoll just to the north of Beebe Lake, was completed in the fall of 1917. The observatory is still used for introductory astronomy labs, as well as for public viewing nights on clear Fridays.

In 1940, the first 9 holes of Cornell's Robert Trent Jones Golf Course were built adjacent to the North Campus dormitories.

In 1963, Helen Newman Hall opened to serve as the women's gymnasium and housed the women's physical education program.

In 1970, a new set of red brick dormitories called "North Campus" opened, consisting of the Low Rise and High Rise complexes. The Robert Purcell Community Center, originally known as the North Campus Union, was also built and opened in 1971. Although three more Low Rise dorms (#2 to #4) were planned, funding was not available, and the area between High Rises 1 and 5 was left undeveloped. Also in 1970, Cornell started experimenting with coed dorms, and all buildings except Balch Hall (which is limited to housing women by a bequest) gradually became coed. With coeducation, the name of the entire area north of the creek became "North Campus."

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