Congress

See also Wikipedia's article about "United States Congress".

Congress is the legislative branch of the US government, located in Washington, DC. Columbia has had a long and varied relationship with the organ, which controls a lot of the federal funding that flows its way.

For example, in 1786, Congress actually shut down during Columbia's first Commencement after the Revolutionary War in deference to the then mere college (it probably made a difference that the capital of the United States, and hence Congress itself, was then located in New York City). However, in 2024 pressure from Congress arguably led to Minouche Shafik cracking down on the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

Many Columbians have also served in Congress.

Columbians in Congress

(current and former, incomplete list for now..for simplicity, those who were Representatives before being elected to the Senate are included in the Senate list)

Senate

• DeWitt Clinton CC 1786 (Democratic-Republican, NY)
• Hamilton Fish CC 1827 (Whig-NY)
• Mike Gravel GS '56 (D-AK)
• Judd Gregg CC'69 (R-NH)
• Jacob Javits (attended night school) (D-NY)
• William Langer CC 1910 (R-ND)
• Gouverneur Morris KC 1768 (Federalist-NY)
• Barack Obama CC'83 (D-IL)

House of Representatives

• Shirley Chisholm TC (MEd) '51 (D-NY)
• Jerrold Nadler CC'69 (D-NY)