New Paltz Normal School

State University of New York at New Paltz

Type	Public
Established	1828
Parent institution	State University of New York
Endowment	$18.5 million
President	Donald P. Christian
Provost	Lorin Basden Arnold
Academic staff	372 (full-time) 302 (part-time)
Students	7,628
Undergraduates	6,717
Postgraduates	911
Address	1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561, New Paltz, New York, US 41°44′37″N 74°05′02″W / 41.74361°N 74.08389°W / 41.74361; -74.08389
Campus	Small town, 350 acres (140 ha)
Colors	Blue and orange
Nickname	Hawks
Mascot	Hugo the Hawk
Website	newpaltz.edu

The State University of New York at New Paltz, known as SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz for short, is a public college in New Paltz, in the U.S. state of New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an academy in 1833. The college is one of four SUNY institutions in the New York metropolitan area.

Following a decimating fire in 1884, the New Paltz Classical School offered their land to the state government of New York contingent upon the establishment of a normal school. In 1885, the New Paltz Normal and Training School was established to prepare teachers to practice their professions in the public schools of New York. It was granted the ability to award baccalaureate degrees in 1938, when it was renamed the State Teachers College at New Paltz; the inaugural class of 112 students graduated in 1942. In 1947, a graduate program in education was established. When the State University of New York was established by legislative act in 1948, the Teachers College at New Paltz was one of 30 colleges associated under SUNY's umbrella. An art education program was added in 1951. In 1960, the college (assigned the moniker of the State University of New York College of Liberal Arts and Science at New Paltz in 1961) was authorized to confer liberal arts degrees.

There were several student-led demonstrations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily against the Vietnam War. In the spring of 1967, a sit-in protesting military recruitment on campus blocked the entrance to the Student Union for two days. While there were scores of demonstrators the first day, all but 13 dispersed before New York State Troopers arrived and bodily carried the demonstrators to a waiting school bus for a trip to court. In the fall of 1968, students rallied in support of Craig Pastor (now Craig DeYong) who had been arrested by New Paltz Village Police for desecration of the American flag which he was wearing as a superhero cape in a student film directed by Edward Falco. College President John J. Neumaier posted bail. Pastor was released and charges were dropped. Following the Cambodian Campaign and concomitant Kent State shootings in May 1970, there was a protest leading to a five-day student occupation of the Administration Building (subsequently renamed Old Main). A March 1974 sit-in at the Haggerty Administration Building (opened in 1972) reacted against perceived discriminatory hiring practices, the state-mandated reintegration of Shango Hall (which then housed underrepresented students), and the threatened cessation of the Experimental Studies Program in the wake of a budget shortfall.