Nicholas Murray Butler
Nicholas Murray Butler CC 1882 MA 1883 PhD 1884 was the ruler of Columbia for over four decades (1902-1945). Although he was accused of suppressing professorial dissent to two world wars, attempting to turn Columbia into the preserve of elite WASPs, trying to erase Columbia College by privileging grad schools, working to eradicate all Semitic ties to the University, and conferring legitimacy upon Nazi Germany, nonetheless he was probably Columbia's most influential leader.
He also won a Nobel Peace Prize and was a candidate for Vice President of the United States. Butler Library and the Butler Medal are named after him.
While a student at Columbia, Mr. Butler was a member of Psi Upsilon and the Peithologian Society. He studied philosophy during his time at the university, and after a brief jaunt through Europe, joined the faculty as a philosophy professor in 1885.
See also
- Nicholas Miraculous, a biography of Butler by Columbia English professor Michael Rosenthal
| Preceded by Seth Low |
President of Columbia University 1902-1945 |
Succeeded by Frank Fackenthal (acting) |
