Motto | Deo ac Veritati (Latin) |
---|---|
Motto in English
|
For God and for Truth |
Type | Private |
Established | 1819 |
Endowment | $849 million |
President | Brian W. Casey |
Academic staff
|
294 |
Undergraduates | 2,927 |
Postgraduates | 12 |
Location |
Hamilton Village, Hamilton, New York, United States 42°49′10″N 75°32′11″W / 42.81944°N 75.53639°WCoordinates: 42°49′10″N 75°32′11″W / 42.81944°N 75.53639°W |
Campus | Rural, 575 acre (2.08 km²) |
Colors | Maroon and White |
Athletics |
NCAA Division I FCS – Patriot League, ECAC Hockey MAISA |
Nickname | Raiders |
Mascot | Raider |
Website | www |
University rankings | |
---|---|
National | |
Forbes | 42 |
Liberal arts colleges | |
U.S. News & World Report | 12 |
Washington Monthly | 9 |
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college located on 575 acres (2.08 km²) in Hamilton Village, Hamilton Township, Madison County, New York, United States.
Colgate has 55 undergraduate concentrations that culminate in a Bachelor of Arts degree. The student body comes from 47 states and 42 countries. In its 2017 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked Colgate as the 12th best liberal arts college in the country.
Colgate is a member of the Patriot League conference of the NCAA Division I.
In 1817, the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York was founded by thirteen men (six clergymen and seven laymen). Two years later, in 1819, the state granted the school's charter, and the school opened a year later, in 1820. The first classes were held in a building in the town of Hamilton. Three years later, in 1823, the Baptist Theological Seminary at New York City incorporated with the Baptist Education Society and subsequently changed its name to the Hamilton Literary & Theological Institution. Among the trustees was William Colgate, founder of a soap company.
In 1826, the school's trustees bought farmland that later became the focal point of the campus, known as 'The Hill'. One year later, the current students and faculty of the school built West Hall, using stone taken from a quarry found on the land. Originally called West Edifice before being renamed to West Hall, it is the oldest structure on campus. On March 26, 1846, the State of New York granted a college charter to Hamilton's Collegiate Department; in the two year prior to that, at the request of Hamilton Trustees, degrees of forty-five Bachelor's students and at least one Master's candidate were awarded by Columbian College in Washington, DC (now the George Washington University), a fellow Baptist institution. In 1846, the school changed its name to Madison University. In 1850, the Baptist Education Society planned to move the university to Rochester, but was halted by legal action. Dissenting trustees, faculty, and students founded the University of Rochester.