Trustees

The Trustees' baller hideout inside Low Library. The portrait over the fireplace is of the first president of King's College, Samuel Johnson

The Board of Trustees truly pwn the university, and meet in their own special power-trippy room of Low Library once in awhile. Campus is always made spiffy clean for their semi-regular summits.

The Royal charter granted by King George II in 1754 gave power to "the Governors of the College in the Province of New York", making them a corporate body. The current institution of the Board, however, was only composed after Columbia was returned to private trusteeship after a three-year post-Revolutionary War experiment in state control by the New York Board of Regents.

Among their other duties, including the selection of the University President and overseeing all senior faculty and administrative appointments, monitoring the budget and endowment, and amending the University Statutes - Columbia's administrative code - the trustees have the true power to grant degrees to any Columbia school or affiliated institution (although Barnard has its own trustees, only Columbia's can confer degrees to Barnard students). Degrees accordingly begin with (in English variations) "The Trustees of Columbia University" or (in Latin variations) "Curatores Universitatis Columbiae".

External links

• Backgrounds of the current Trustees
• {http://www.columbia.edu/cu/secretary/docs/trustees/trustees-emeriti.html List of Trustees emeriti]