John Howard Van Amringe
John Howard Van Amringe CC 1860 was a Math professor, and is generally credited as the first Dean of Columbia College. Although he may not actually have been the first Dean (it was probably Henry Drisler.) It was Van Amringe who convinced Seth Low to rename the school "Columbia University" and repatriate the "Columbia College" name back to the undergraduate school in 1896.[1] Otherwise you might have been attending the Columbia University School of Arts all this time!
Van Amringe was a passionate defender of the independence of the college from the university and of its liberal arts traditions, though some saw an elitism in this: part of New York's Knickerbocker elite, Van Amringe bought into its prejudices for the "well-read" man who came to college after a preparatory school education had ensured his ability to keep up with the classics. While it cannot be said that Van Amringe did much to increase the value of the college for social mobility, his stonewalling kept the likes of University President Nicholas Murray Butler from completely dissolving it into the university.
Van Am Quad is named for him.
| Preceded by None |
Dean of Columbia College 1894-1910 |
Succeeded by Frederick P. Keppel |
References
- ↑ A History of Columbia College on Morningside, p. 20 (1954)
