{{Short description|College of the City University of New York}} {{For|the former Brooklyn Technical College in Great Barr, Birmingham, England, now the James Watt campus|Birmingham Metropolitan College}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox university |name = Brooklyn College |image = Brooklyn_College_Seal.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert |image_upright = .7 |motto = {{langx|la|Nil sine magno labore}} |mottoeng = Nothing without great effort<ref name=facts>{{cite web |url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/facts.php |title=Fast Facts |publisher=CUNY – Brooklyn College |access-date=April 18, 2020}}</ref> |established = {{start date and age|1930}} |parent = City University of New York |type = Public university |endowment = $98.0 million (2019)<ref name="usnews.com">[https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/brooklyn-college-2687 "Overview of CUNY—Brooklyn College"]</ref> |budget = $123.96 million (2021)<ref name=facts/> |president = Michelle Anderson |provost = April Bedford |faculty = 1,259 (fall 2023)<ref name="nces">{{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/institution-profile/190549 |title=Institution Data Profile - CUNY Brooklyn College |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=January 21, 2025 }}</ref> |students = 13,935 (fall 2023)<ref name="nces" /> |undergrad = 11,330 (fall 2023)<ref name="nces" /> |postgrad = 2,605 (fall 2023)<ref name="nces" /> |city = Brooklyn, New York City |state = New York |country = United States |coordinates = {{Coord|40|37|52|N|73|57|9|W|type:edu_region:US-NY|display=title,inline}} |campus = Urban, {{cvt|35|acre}}<ref name=facts/> |colors = {{Color box|#861f41}}{{Color box|#f1be48}}{{Color box|#8c7d70}} Maroon, gold, & grey<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/off_communications/BRKL_IdentityManual_0707.pdf |title=Visual Identity System |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2022 |department=Brooklyn College |publisher=City University of New York |access-date=July 18, 2022 }}</ref> |free_label = |free = |athletics_affiliations = {{Hlist| NCAA Division III – CUNYAC (South)}} |sports_nickname = Bulldogs |mascot = Buster the Bulldog |website = {{URL|www.brooklyn.edu}} |logo = Brooklyn College Logo.svg |logo_upright = 1.0 }}
'''Brooklyn College''' ('''BC''') is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, New York. It is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system and enrolled nearly 14,000 students on a {{convert|35|acre|adj=on}} campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall 2023.
New York City's first public coeducational liberal arts college, the college was formed in 1930 by the merger of the Brooklyn branches of Hunter College (centered in Manhattan), then a women's college, and of the City College of New York (also Manhattan), then a men's college. Once tuition-free, the city's 1975 fiscal crisis ended the free tuition policy. The college also consolidated to its main campus.
Prominent alumni of Brooklyn College include US senators, federal judges, US financial chairmen, Olympians, CEOs, and recipients of Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and Nobel Prizes.
==College history==
===Early decades=== Brooklyn College was founded in 1930.<ref name="google1">{{cite book|author=Ellen Freudenheim, Anna Wiener|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIxPgnmtQlcC&q=brooklyn+college+founded&pg=PA258|title=Brooklyn!, 3rd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to New York's Most Happening Borough|date=April 2004| publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780312323318|access-date=2019-12-22}}</ref> That year, as directed by the New York City Board of Higher Education on April 22, the college authorized the combination of the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College, at that time a city women's college, and the City College of New York, then a men's college (both these branches had been established in 1926).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102848623/brooklyn-wins-long-fight-for-own/|title=Brooklyn Wins Long Fight For Own Public College; Boylan to Be President|date=April 23, 1930|work=Brooklyn Daily Times|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="google1930">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYRLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22brooklyn+college%22+1930&pg=RA1-PA77 |title=Bulletin – United States. Office of Education |access-date=2019-12-22|year=1932 }}</ref><ref>Berroll, Selma and Gargan, William M. "Brooklyn College" in {{cite enc-nyc2}}, p. 176</ref> The third oldest higher education institution in what would become the City University system, Brooklyn College became the first public coeducational liberal arts college in New York City.<ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6TbHxdc7pMC&q=%22brooklyn+college%22+founded&pg=PA306 |title=Between Sorrow and Strength: Women Refugees of the Nazi Period |date= 2002-11-07|access-date=2019-12-22|isbn=9780521522854 |last1=Quack |first1=Sibylle |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> The school opened in September 1930,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102904168/brooklyn-college-has-first-meeting/|title=Brooklyn College Has First Meeting|date=September 16, 1930|work=Brooklyn Daily Times|access-date=May 31, 2022|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> holding separate classes for men and women until their junior years.<ref name="google1930"/><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=https://macaulay.cuny.edu/seminars/wills09/articles/b/r/o/Brooklyn_College_ad4c.html|title=Brooklyn College – The Peopling of New York City|publisher=Macaulay.cuny.edu|access-date=2019-12-28}}</ref> Admission would require passing a stringent entrance exam.<ref name="autogenerated1" />
thumb|Brooklyn College Library, situated on the East Quad, was designed by campus architect Randolph Evans. In 1932, architect Randolph Evans drafted a plan for the campus on a substantial plot that his employer owned in Brooklyn's Midwood section.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102844795/evans-appointed-architect-for-brooklyn/|title=Evans Appointed Architect for Brooklyn College|date=February 20, 1935|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Evans sketched a Georgian campus facing a central quadrangle, and anchored by a library building with a tower.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102846772/brooklyn-college-83-percent-finished/|title=Brooklyn College, 83 Percent Finished, Will Teach 10,000|date=October 11, 1936|work=Brooklyn Times Union|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=13|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Evans presented the sketches to the college's then president, Dr. William A. Boylan,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102844176/dr-boylan-assumes-charge-of-new/|title=Dr. Boylan Assumes Charge of New Brooklyn College|date=May 15, 1930|work=Brooklyn Daily Times|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> who approved the layout.
The land was bought for $1.6 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|1600000|1932}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}),{{inflation/fn|US}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102845934/city-takes-title-today-to-ground-for/|title=City Takes Title Today to Ground for Brooklyn College|date=June 18, 1935|work=Brooklyn Times Union|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and construction allotment was $5 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{Inflation|US|5000000|1932}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}).{{inflation/fn|US}}<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=https://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/history/ourhistory.php |title=Our History | Brooklyn College |publisher=Brooklyn.cuny.edu |access-date=2019-12-22}}</ref> Construction began in 1935.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102851724/laborers-busy-on-site-of-new-bklyn/|title=Laborers Busy on Site of New B'klyn College|date=October 3, 1935|work=Brooklyn Citizen|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> At the groundbreaking ceremony was Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and Brooklyn Borough President Raymond Ingersoll.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> In 1936, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited and laid the gymnasium's cornerstone.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102849568/million-hail-roosevelt-here-for/|title=Million Hail Roosevelt Here for Cornerstone Ceremony at Brooklyn College|date=October 28, 1936|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=May 30, 2022|pages=1, 3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1" /> The new campus opened for the fall 1937 semester.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102852714/laguardia-opens-brooklyn-college/|title=LaGuardia Opens Brooklyn College $5,900,000 Home|date=October 18, 1937|work=Brooklyn Citizen|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52862324/students-give-la-guardia-school-yell-as/|title=Students Give LaGuardia School Yell As New Brooklyn College Opens Doors|date=October 18, 1937|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=May 30, 2022|pages=1, 2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In the 1940s, Boylan, Ingersoll, Roosevelt and La Guardia each became namesake of a campus building.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102902242/boro-college-ends-ban-on-military/|title=Boro College Ends Ban On Military Training|date=September 24, 1940|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102902869/shiela-shop-talk-for-man-hunters/|title=Shop Talk for Man Hunters|date=May 14, 1945|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102903283/laguardia-portrait-presented/|title=LaGuardia Portrait Presented|date=December 10, 1949|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
During the tenure of its second president, Harry Gideonse, from 1939 to 1966, Brooklyn College ranked high nationally in number of alumni with doctorate degrees.<ref name="auto10">{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-03-15-8501140946-story.html|title=HARRY D. GIDEONSE, 83; HEADED BROOKLYN COLLEGE|last=Service|first=N. Y. Times News|website=chicagotribune.com|date=15 March 1985 }}</ref><ref name="newschool.edu">[https://library.newschool.edu/archives/findingaids/NS010201.html#ref79 "Biographical note"], New School for Social Research Libraries & Archives.</ref> As academics fled Nazi Germany, nearly a third of refugee historians who were female would at some point work at Brooklyn College.<ref name="google2" /> In 1944, sociologist Marion Vera Cuthbert became the first permanent black faculty member appointed at any of the New York municipal colleges.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Margaret|last=Mara|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102743019/margaret-mara-negro-educator/|title=Negro Educator Appointed to Boro College|date=September 26, 1944|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> And in 1956, with John Hope Franklin joining, Brooklyn College became the first "white" college to hire on a permanent basis a historian who was black.<ref>{{Cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102854321/negro-will-head-dept-of-history-at/|title=Negro Will Head Dept. of History At Brooklyn|date=February 15, 1956|work= The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania)|access-date=May 30, 2022|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In 1959, still tuition-free, about 8,000 undergraduates were enrolled.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{Cite news |last=Davis |first=Bob |date=February 23, 2016 |title=Bernie Sanders's Free Tuition Failed a Cost Test in Past |url=https://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/new_2016news/WSJ-Sanders-022316.pdf |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> In 1962, the college joined six other colleges to form the City University of New York, creating the world's second-largest university.<ref name="autogenerated4">{{Citation |last= |first= |title=Decade by Decade: Our 75th Anniversary! |date=2005 |work=Brooklyn College Community Corner |url=https://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/abo_administration_government/050901_CCS05.pdf |access-date= |publisher= |last2= |first2= |author-link= }}.</ref> In 1983, Brooklyn College named its library the Harry D. Gideonse Library.<ref name="auto10" /><ref name="auto20">{{cite news |last=Waggoner |first=Walter H. |date=March 14, 1985 |title=Dr. Harry D. Gideonse Dead; Ex-Head of Brooklyn College |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/14/nyregion/dr-harry-d-gideonse-dead-ex-head-of-brooklyn-college.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
Nevertheless, Gideonse remains a controversial figure in the college's history; as one account noted, he is "either lauded as a hero and great educator in hagiographic accounts . . . or decried by faculty and alumni as an autocrat who stifled academic freedom and students' rights."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://countdown2030.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-1940s/in-loco-parentis-harry-gideonse-and-the-making-of-brooklyn-college/|title=In loco parentis: Harry Gideonse and the Making of Brooklyn College|date=May 7, 2019|access-date=May 28, 2022|work=CUNY Academic Commons: Countdown to 2030}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/03/22/archives/gideonse-assails-splinter-groups-brooklyn-college-head-cites.html|title=Gideonse Assails 'Splinter' Groups|access-date=May 28, 2022|date=March 22, 1940|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
In addition to his curricular and student life reforms, Gideonse was known for his decades-long campaign to ferret out Communists among the college community and his testimony before congressional and state investigating committees during the Second Red Scare.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102730346/riotous-reds-raided-classes-cowed/|title=Riotous Reds Raided Classes, Cowed Pupils, Says Gideonse|date=December 4, 1940|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102742233/quick-action-pledged-on-college-red/|title=Quick Action Pledged On College Red Purge|date=May 1, 1941|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102742670/probe-is-urged-of-red-attack-on/|title=Probe Is Urged of Red Attack on Gideonse|date=May 7, 1946|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102730346/riotous-reds-raided-classes-cowed/|title=Gideonse, in 10 Years, Checked Red Trend in Brooklyn College|date=September 27, 1948|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=8|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102729536/paul-healy-campus-red-a-nearly/|first=Paul|last=Healy|title=Campus Red a Nearly Extinct Bird, Gideonse Tells Probe|date=March 12, 1953 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 28, 2022|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
On the other hand, perhaps retaining the memory of the time when, as a University of Chicago professor, he was unjustly accused of being a Communist and advocating "free love,"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102757389/drug-king-charges-free-varsity-love/|title=Drug King Charges Free Varsity Love|date=May 14, 1935 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 29, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Gideonse also attacked those who, without evidence, charged faculty, staff and students with being subversives and defended faculty free speech rights against outside critics.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102742307/gideonse-defies-red-probe-to-produce/|title=Gideonse Defies Red Probe To Produce Legal Evidence|date=April 23, 1942|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102742780/gideonse-set-to-drop-charges-against/|title=Gideonse Set to Drop Charges Against Tutor|date=September 23, 1944|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102742590/off-color-magazines-allowed-by/|title=Off-Color Magazines Allowed by Gideonse In Brooklyn College|date=March 28, 1944|work=Brooklyn Eagle|access-date=May 28, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102757788/college-president-hits-red-baiting/|title=College President Hits Red-Baiting|date=December 20, 1940|work=The American Guardian (Oklahoma City)|access-date=May 29, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
The college's third president, Francis Kilcoyne, served from 1966 to 1967.<ref name="google.com">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDwoAQAAIAAJ&q=FRANCIS+KILCOYNE|title=Patrick Kilcoyne, Educator is Dead|date=18 March 1985|work=The New York Times & Arno Press}}</ref> The fourth president, Harold Syrett, resigned due to ill health in February 1969, when George A. Peck was named acting president.<ref name="autosy">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/30/obituaries/dr-harold-syrett-historian-and-hamilton-papers-editor.html|title=Dr. Harold Syrett, Historian and Hamilton Papers Editor|first=Todd S.|last=Purdum|date=July 30, 1984|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101615614/ap-brooklyn-college-names-president/|agency=Associated Press|title=Brooklyn College Names President|date=August 13, 1969|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|access-date=May 10, 2022|page=21A|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> John Kneller, Brooklyn College's fifth president, served from 1969 until 1979.<ref>[http://policy.cuny.edu/policyimport/board_meeting_minutes/1979/document.pdf "MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK HELD JANUARY 29, 1979"]</ref><ref name="218.160">{{cite web|url=http://50.56.218.160/archive/category.php?category_id=24&id=29473|title=Dr. Kneller, Former Brooklyn College President, Dies at 82|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=2019-03-27|archive-date=2019-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327101445/http://50.56.218.160/archive/category.php?category_id=24&id=29473|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/20/archives/kneller-inducted-as-head-of-brooklyn-college-he-cites-need-to-heal.html|title=Kneller Inducted as Head of Brooklyn College|first=Arnold H.|last=Lubasch|date= March 20, 1970|work=The New York Times}}</ref> These presidents served during what were perhaps the most tumultuous years for Brooklyn College.
=== 1960s === During the Vietnam War, as they did on other U.S. campuses, student protests rocked Brooklyn College. President Gideonse, in a 1965 television interview, blamed demonstrations on Communists who were "duping the innocents" into demanding more freedom on campus,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102631421/polly-kline-wordy-war-prexy-vs/|first=Polly|last=Kline|title=Wordy War: Prexy vs. 'Rebels'|date=April 10, 1965 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 27, 2022|page=14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> leading the New York Civil Liberties Union to criticize Gideonse for "his efforts to smear student groups at the college with the Communist label."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102631638/gideonse-is-accused-of-smearing/|title=Gideonse Is Accused Of Smearing Students|date=April 19, 1965 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 27, 2022|page=1B|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Also in 1965, student protests forced the Gideonse administration to rescind new, stricter dress rules that forbade male students from wearing dungarees or sweatshirts on campus at any time and mandated that female students wear skirts and blouses even in extremely cold weather.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Jonathan|last=Stern|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102631865/jonathan-stern-studen-protest-ends/|title=Student Protest Ends Garb Rule|date=January 24, 1965 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 27, 2022|page=B58|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> After Gideonse's retirement in June 1966,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102632545/nine-to-retire-from-college-with/|title=Nine to Retire From College With Gideonse|date=June 5, 1966 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 27, 2022|page=BKL64|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> a newly appointed dean of administration, Dante Negro, said he was not bothered by the students' more casual dress "that makes it hard to distinguish between the sexes," calling it "a passing fad."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102632272/new-dean-sees-teen-trends-end-daily/|title=New Dean Sees Teen Trend's End|date=June 19, 1966 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 27, 2022|page=B54|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
On October 21, 1967, a front-page story in ''The New York Times'' reported that the college was virtually closed down by a strike of thousands of students angered by police action against antiwar demonstrators protesting U.S. Navy recruiters earlier in the week.<ref>{{cite news|first=Homer|last=Bigart|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/10/21/archives/protest-ties-up-brooklyn-campus-college-virtually-closed-as-80-of.html|title=Protest Ties Up Brooklyn Campus; College Virtually Closed as 80% of Students Strike Over Action by Police|date=October 21, 1967|page=1|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 10, 2022}}</ref> Five days later, another front-page ''Times'' story reported that students had agreed to return to classes after an agreement was reached with college administrators after negotiations.<ref>{{cite news|first=Murray|last=Schumach|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/10/25/archives/brooklyn-college-students-vote-to-return-to-classrooms-today.html|title=Brooklyn College Students Vote To Return to Classrooms Today; Students To End Brooklyn Tie-Up|date=October 25, 1967|access-date=May 10, 2022|page=1|work=The New York Times}}</ref> A few days after that, President Kilcoyne walked out when New York Mayor John V. Lindsay appeared at the college, citing Lindsay's insult in calling the school "Berkeley East."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101602267/explains-snub-of-the-mayor-daily/|title=Explains Snub of the Mayor|date=October 29, 1967 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=15|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101602676/ap-berkeley-east-label-protested/|agency=Associated Press|title='Berkeley East' Label Protested|date=October 29, 1967|work=Oakland Tribune|access-date=May 10, 2022|page=16|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Around the same time, the college's students were involved in campus protests involving racial issues. In May 1968, Brooklyn College news again made the front page of ''The New York Times'' when police broke up a 16-hour sit-in at the registrar's office to demand that more Black and Puerto Rican students be admitted to the school.<ref>{{cite news|first=Barnard L.|last=Collier|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/05/21/archives/police-break-up-sitin-in-brooklyn-at-college-office-40-students.html|title=Police Break Up Sit-In in Brooklyn College Office|date=May 21, 1968 |page=1 |work=The New York Times|access-date=May 10, 2022}}</ref> At trial, a Black Brooklyn judge reacted angrily when one student said they had been reacting to racism and sentenced him and 32 other white students to five days in jail for the sit-in.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ross |first=Edwin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101617529/edwin-ross-youths-talk-riles-negro/|title=Youth's Talk Riles Negro Judge|date=May 28, 1969 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=33|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In May 1969, 19 or 20 Brooklyn College students faced criminal charges in connection with campus disorders during the spring semester, including raids in which students allegedly ransacked files and smoke-bombed the library.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pugh |first1=Thomas |last2=Abelman |first2=Lester |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101616694/thomas-pugh-lester-abelman-500-cops/|title=500 Cops Rout Queens College Rebs|date=May 3, 1969 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101607575/ap-19-face-criminal-charges-in/|agency=Associated Press|title=19 Face Criminal Charges in Brooklyn Riots|date=May 14, 1969|work=The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana)|access-date=May 10, 2022 |page=7-A |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Ross |first1=Edwin |last2=McNamara|first2=Joseph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101608296/edwin-ross-joseph-mcnamara-20/|title=20 Indicted in B'klyn College Turmoil|date=May 14, 1969 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In the years following 1968, the efforts of both Puerto Rican and African American students led to the establishment of US-based Puerto Rican Studies program and Institutes at Brooklyn College. These efforts were directly connected to the open admissions fight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Puerto Rican Studies at Brooklyn College |url=https://cdha.cuny.edu/collections/show/402}}</ref>
=== 1970s-1990s === In late April 1970, students demanding more open admissions and racial diversity staged a sit-in at President Kneller's office, holding him and five deans there for several hours.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kiernan|first=Joseph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101620814/joseph-kiernan-students-hold-prexy/|title=Students Hold Prexy, Five Deans in Admission Plea|date=May 1, 1970 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=53|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The next week, in early May 1970, students seized the president's office and other buildings during a student strike upon the Kent State shootings and the Cambodian Campaign.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101567463/kneller-oks-war-protest-daily-news/|title=Kneller OKs War Protest|date=May 5, 1970 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=K1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Kappstatter|first=Robert|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101554251/robert-kappstatter-7000-kids-take/|title=7,000 Kids Take Over Empty B'klyn College|date=May 8, 1970 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 9, 2022|page=47|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thoughtcatalog.com/richard-grayson/2013/02/an-18-year-olds-diary-entries-from-may-1970/|first=Richard|last=Grayson|title=An 18-Year-Old's Diary Entries From May, 1970|date=February 13, 2013|publisher=Thought Catalog| access-date=May 10, 2022}}</ref> President Kneller terminated classes, but kept campus buildings open for students and faculty, obtaining a court order against students occupying buildings.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Proctor|first=William|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101567904/william-proctor-cancel-bc-classes-in/|title=Cancel BC Classes in Protests|date=May 7, 1970 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=63|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77087079/brooklyn-kingsbrorough-the-plans/|title=Brooklyn & Kingsbrorough: The Plans Are Uncertain|date=May 13, 1970 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=69|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Kline|first=Polly|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101619461/polly-kline-court-bars-student/|title=Court Bars Student 'Noise' At B'klyn College Campus|date=June 4, 1970 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 10, 2022|page=59|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In October 1974, 200 Hispanic students took over the registrar's office to protest President Kneller's appointment of a chair of the Puerto Rican Studies Department different from that of the person selected by a faculty search committee.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Newmark|first=Ian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102581364/ian-newmark-hispanic-students-defy/|title=Hispanic Students Defy Judge on Sit-In|date=October 23, 1974 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=KL7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Frank Bonilla, head of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, at the time, expressed the center's support for faculty and students at Brooklyn College, to demand the right to self-determination for the BC Department of Puerto Rican Studies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=October 24, 1974 letter Frank Bonilla, head of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College to Brooklyn College President John Kneller Supporting the Student-led Struggle on the campus|url=https://cdha.cuny.edu/items/show/14052 |access-date=2026-04-28 |website=CUNY Digital History Archive}}</ref> Defying a judge's temporary court order to leave the building, the protesters were supported at a rallies outside Boylan Hall by many student groups and the alumni association, but Kneller refused to rescind his controversial appointment.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Newmark|first=Ian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102581849/ian-newmark-600-at-college-turn-out/|title=600 at College Turn Out to Support Sit-In|date=October 24, 1974 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Newmark|first=Ian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102582116/ian-newmark-kneller-firm-on-selection/|title=Kneller Firm on Selection As 1,000 Disrupt Classes|date=October 26, 1974 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=15|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Protests flared up again in the spring 1975 semester with another takeover of the registrar's office.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Newmark|first1=Ian|last2=Murphy|first2=John|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102582545/ian-newmark-john-murphy-ethnic/|title=Ethnic Study Rift Flares at BC|date=April 17, 1975 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> By January 1976, the college's faculty union voted "no confidence" in Kneller, charging that he "consistently ignored faculty rights" and failed to provide leadership.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Steinberg|first=Carol|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102587393/carol-steinberg-brooklyn-college/|title=Brooklyn College Chief Flunks Vote|date=January 12, 1976 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=QL7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Brooklyn College, along with the rest of CUNY, shut down for two weeks in May and June 1976 as the university was unable to pay its bills.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Varzi|first=Cass|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102583700/cass-vanzi-brooklyn-college-set-to/|title=Brooklyn College Set to Reopen|date=June 14, 1976 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=BKL1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Amid New York City's financial crisis, near bankruptcy, Brooklyn College's campus in downtown Brooklyn closed, leaving the Midwood campus as the Brooklyn College's only campus.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Shepard|first1=Joan|first2=Jesse|last2=Brodey|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101553274/joan-shepard-jesse-brodey-downtown/|title=Downtown B'klyn Campus Finis|date=July 29, 1976 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 9, 2022|page=ML7|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In the fall of 1976, with some 30,000 undergraduates enrolled, the college charged tuition for the first time.<ref name="autogenerated3" />
In January 1978, the college's Faculty Council approved a vote of "no confidence" in President Kneller on Wednesday and recommended to the Board of Higher Education that he be replaced.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Moore|first=Keith|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102635280/keith-moore-kneller-hits-report-on/|title=Kneller Hits Report on Competence|date=January 13, 1978 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=BKL1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Brooklyn College's sixth president was Robert Hess, who served from 1979 to 1992.<ref name="cambridge.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002021400013207|title=Obituaries}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-01-14-9201040689-story.html|title=EDUCATOR ROBERT HESS; GUIDED BROOKLYN COLLEGE|last=Heise|first=Kenan|work=Chicago Tribune|date=14 January 1992 }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite book|last1=Ohles|first1=Frederik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBj5-zHEMvoC&q=%22robert+hess%22+%22brooklyn+college%22&pg=PA157|title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators|last2=Ohles|first2=Shirley G.|last3=Ohles|first3=Shirley M.|last4=Ramsay|first4=John G.|date=1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313291333}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Davis|first1=Tina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OFOzCgAAQBAJ&q=%22robert+l.+hess%22+%22brooklyn+college%22&pg=PA17|title=Hess: The Last Oil Baron|last2=Resnick-Ault|first2=Jessica|date=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118923443}}</ref> Hess initiated major changes in the college curriculum, mandating a standard core for all students.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Davila|first=Albert|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102635759/albert-davila-study-major-shifts-in/|title=Study major shifts in BC curriculum|date=September 26, 1979 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=3K|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102894420/brooklyn-college-head-plans-changes-in/|title=Brooklyn College Head Plans Changes In School Curriculum|date=November 8, 1979|work=Canarsie Courier|access-date=May 31, 2022|page=8|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Implementation of the new curriculum was aided by a large grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Copiage|first=Eric|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102636076/eric-copiage-college-given-aid-to/|title=College given aid to develop 'core' courses|date=March 28, 1982 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=K6|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> By 1984, in a national report's otherwise gloomy assessment of humanities education, Brooklyn College was singled out as "a bright spot" among American universities for stressing the study of the humanities.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fleming|first=Robert|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102636452/robert-fleming-study-of-humanities/|title=Study of humanities wins nationwide acclaim for BC|date=November 22, 1984 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=May 26, 2022|page=K16|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In a 1988 survey of thousands of American college deans, Brooklyn College ranked 5th in providing students with a strong general education, and was the only public institution among the top five.<ref name="auto1" /><ref name="auto" /> As of 1989, Brooklyn College ranked 11th in the US, and ahead of six of the eight Ivy League universities, by number of graduates who had acquired doctoral degrees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjI6AQAAMAAJ&q=%22brooklyn+college%22+founded&pg=RA4-PA9 |title=Humanities |access-date=2019-12-22|year=1989 }}</ref> At Brooklyn College being called "the poor man’s Harvard," President Hess quipped, "I like to think of Harvard as the rich man’s Brooklyn College."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collegeatlas.org/brooklyn-college-new-york.html|title=Brooklyn College|website=www.collegeatlas.org}}</ref>
Even as Brooklyn College rebounded academically, it suffered a severe budget crunch in the 1988–1989 school year due to reductions in state financing; this resulted in fewer courses, larger classes, no new faculty and staff hirings, supply shortages, and deferral of maintenance of buildings and grounds.<ref>{{cite news|first=Leonard|last=Buder|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/07/nyregion/in-brooklyn-college-ends-a-lean-year-with-relief.html|title=In Brooklyn, College Ends A Lean Year With Relief|date=June 7, 1989|page=B1|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 4, 2023}}</ref>
Vernon Lattin was the seventh president of Brooklyn College, from 1992 to 2000.<ref>[https://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pages/about/initiatives/2002/oral_history/v3/lattin.html Vernon E. Lattin<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-william-douglas-new-bklyn-col/129424236/|first=William|last=Douglas|title=New B'klyn College Head|date=June 23, 1992 |work=New York Newsday |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-william-douglas-arizona-educat/129424468/|first=William|last=Douglas|title=Arizona Educator Warms Up to B'klyn|date=June 24, 1992 |work=New York Newsday |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=24|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/canarsie-courier-dr-lattin-joins-bkly/129424762/|title=Dr. Lattin Joins B'klyn College As President|date=September 24, 1992 |work=Canarsie Courier |location=Brooklyn |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=14|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Liff|first=Bpb|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-bob-liff-half-century-later/129403045/|title=Half-century later, Dole revisits college|date=October 12, 1998|work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 7, 2023|page=KSI1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> During Lattin's tenure, Brooklyn College began a complete overhaul of campus buildings<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-edna-negron-brooklyn-college-s/129402628/|first=Edna|last=Negron|title=Brooklyn College Seeks Overhaul|date=November 27, 1994 |work=New York Newsday |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=85|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and vastly improved computer and Internet access for students and faculty.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Shelby|first=Joyce|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-joyce-shelby-educations-ju/129402382/|title=Education's just a click away|date=May 4, 1997 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=KSI1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-brooklyn-college-opens-inter/129402494/|title=Brooklyn College Opens Internet Cafe for Students|date=April 25, 1999 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=Viva New York 20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The college returned to intercollegiate sports competition<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/canarsie-courier-brooklyn-college-to-ge/129425146/|title=Brooklyn College To Get Back Into Intercollegiate Sports Game|date=September 22, 1994 |work=Canarsie Courier |location=Brooklyn |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=15|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and the college chess team won U.S. and international championships.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Shelby|first=Joyce|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-joyce-shelby-knight-out-at/129402934/|title=Knight out at college proves 'em chess kings|date=March 14, 1995 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=KSI1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Ben-Ali|first=Russell|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-russell-ben-ali-bklyn-chec/129402830/|title=B'klyn checkmates city|date=January 10, 1996 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=QLIL1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Lattin was also president at the time of the first individual million-dollar donation to the Brooklyn College Foundation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/05/nyregion/neighborhood-report-midwood-thanking-a-college-a-million.html|title=Neighborhood Report: Midwood; Thanking a College a Million|first=Somini|last=Sengupta|date= May 5, 1996|work=The New York Times|accessdate=August 4, 2023}}</ref>
===Modern history=== thumb|800px|center|View from the West Quad looking onto the East Quad (from left to right, James Hall, Boylan Hall, the library, Ingersoll Hall, and Roosevelt Hall) Brooklyn College's leafy East Quad looks much like it did when it was originally constructed.<ref name="google1"/>
Whitman Hall, the former performing arts facility which included as its largest venue the George Gershwin Theatre, was demolished and replaced by The Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, for which ground was broken in 2011.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> The performing arts center was named for alumni Leonard and Claire Tow, who gave $10 million to the college.<ref name="google1"/><ref>{{Cite news|agency=AP|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-oklahoman-ap-gift-to-brookly/129593762/|title=Gift to Brooklyn College funds performance hall|date=May 16, 2003 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City|access-date=August 7, 2023|page=5-D|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Other changes to the original design include the demolition of Plaza Building, due to its inefficient use of space, poor ventilation, and significant maintenance costs.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Bob|last=Liff|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-bob-liff-colleges-plaza-is/129664980/|title=College's plaza is on the way out|date=July 27, 1999 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 8, 2023|page=KSI 2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> To replace the Plaza Building, the college constructed West Quad Center, designed by the notable Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly. The new building contains classroom space, offices, gymnasiums and a swimming pool. It houses the offices of Registration, Admissions, Financial Aid, and the Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Harvey S.|last=Wiener|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-harvey-s-wiener-campus-tre/129665664/|title=Campus Trends|date=September 20, 2006 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 8, 2023|page=Specials-9|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The grounds contain a quadrangle with grassy areas and trees. New façades are being constructed on Roosevelt and James halls where they once connected with Plaza Building. The 2009–10 CUNYAC championship men's basketball team now plays its home games in the West Quad Center.
This followed a major $70 million library renovation completed in 2003 that saw the library moved to a temporary home while construction took place.<ref name="google1"/> The Brooklyn College library is now located in its original location in a completely renovated and expanded LaGuardia Hall.
From 2000 to 2009 when he retired, Christoph M. Kimmich was the eighth president of Brooklyn College.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Bob|last=Liff|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-bob-liff-college-prezs-jou/129437242/|title=College prez's journey|date=February 3, 2000 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 4, 2023|page=KSI 1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Clem|last=Richardson|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-clem-richardsonprexys-read/129380703/|title=Prexy's ready to pass torch at his beloved B'klyn College|date=June 26, 2009 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 3, 2023|page=QLIL66|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In the 2003 edition of ''The Best 345 Colleges'', the ''Princeton Review'' named Brooklyn College as the most beautiful campus in the country and ranked it fifth in the nation for "Best Academic Bang for the Buck".<ref name="autogenerated4"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/spotlite/news/082202.htm |title=Campus #1 in Beauty |publisher=Brooklyn College |date=August 20, 2002 |access-date=July 21, 2011}}</ref>
Karen L. Gould was named the ninth president of Brooklyn College in 2009.<ref name=autogenerateda>[http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/departments/childrensstudies/conference/pdf/Karen_L_Gould_bio.pdf "Karen L. Gould"]</ref> Among her accomplishments were creating a new graduate film school and four new academic schools, new athletic fields, and increasing enrollment in the sciences.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2015/07/brooklyn-college-president-announces-retirement-023992|title=Brooklyn College president announces retirement|work=Politico|first=Conor|last=Skelding|date=July 24, 2015|access-date=August 9, 2023}}</ref> Her tenure was marked by repeated free speech controversies involving Israel that drew both criticism and praise.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-academically-incorrect-edi/129710902/|title="Academically incorrect" (editorial)|date= September 7, 2010 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 9, 2023|page=20|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-boycott-this/129711889/|title="Boycott this" (editorial)|date=January 29, 2013 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 9, 2023|page=18|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-free-speech-101/129712374/|title="Free Speech 101" (editorial)|date=November 13, 2013 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 9, 2023|page=32|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Mike|last=McLaughlin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-mike-mclaughlin-prof-axed-i/129711135/|title=Prof axed in Mideast flap rehired|date=February 2, 2011 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 9, 2023|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Todd|last=Gitlin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-todd-gitlin-misu/129710597/|title=Misunderstanding the university|date= February 7, 2013|work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=August 9, 2023|page=A15|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/inside-ccr/letter-brooklyn-college-president-karen-gould|title=Letter to Brooklyn College President Karen Gould Commending Her for Standing with Student Organizers Despite Growing Pressures|website=Center for Constitutional Rights|date=February 5, 2013|access-date=August 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/former-terror-suspect-leading-attack-brooklyn-college-bds-panel/|title=The Former Terror Suspect Leading the Attack on the Brooklyn College BDS Panel|work=The Nation|first=Max|last=Blumenthal|date=February 6, 2013|access-date=August 9, 2023}}</ref> After 42 years in higher education, Gould announced her retirement in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-york/ditmaspark/brooklyn-college-president-karen-gould-retiring-next-summer|title=Brooklyn College President Karen Gould Is Retiring Next Summer|work=Patch (Ditmas Park-Flatbush, NY)|first=Simone|last=Wilson|date=July 24, 2015|access-date=August 9, 2023}}</ref>
Michelle Anderson became the 10th president of Brooklyn College in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2016/05/02/cuny-law-dean-michelle-anderson-named-president-of-brooklyn-college/|title=CUNY Law Dean Michelle Anderson Named President Of Brooklyn College|website=CUNY, The City University of New York|date=May 2, 2016|access-date=August 9, 2023}}</ref> In 2016, Brooklyn College announced a new home for the Koppelman School of Business, with the planned construction of a new building, Koppelman Hall, on property adjacent to the 26-acre campus bought in 2011. This increased the campus size to 35 acres.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2011/40/kc_businesscollege_2011_10_07_bk.html|title=Brooklyn College building new school of business|date=November 22, 2016|access-date=October 23, 2017|archive-date=November 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102045556/https://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2011/40/kc_businesscollege_2011_10_07_bk.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
For four straight years, starting in 2018, U.S. News & World Report named Brooklyn College the most ethnically diverse college in the North Region.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-brooklyn-college-ranks-1-for/130011235/|title=Brooklyn College Ranks #1 for Ethnic Diversity by U.S. News & World Report for Fourth Straight Year|date= September 16, 2021 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=August 14, 2023|page=39|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
=== 2020s === Shortly after October 7th, Republican New York City Council member Inna Vernikov of the 48th City Council District was arrested for bringing a gun to a counterprotest at a pro-Palestine rally.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mays |first=Jeffery C. |date=2023-10-13 |title=Brooklyn Councilwoman Charged After Openly Carrying Gun at Protest |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/nyregion/councilwoman-inna-vernikov-gun-arrest.html |access-date=2026-03-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-13 |title=New York City Council Member Vernikov arrested for gun possession after rally |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/new-york-inna-vernikov-gun-arrest-00121408 |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>
On May 7, 2025, there was a Pro-Palestine protest on the East Quad Campus.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-09 |title=Brooklyn College protest ends with more than a dozen in custody - CBS New York |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/brooklyn-college-protest-may-2025/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> It ended with police force with a crackdown on the demonstration.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-08 |title=NYPD, pro-Palestinian protesters clash at Brooklyn College |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/05/08/breaking-nypd-breaks-up-pro-palestinian-protest-brooklyn-college/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=New York Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref> center|thumb|The East Quad under renovation. |478x478pxStarting on December 22, 2025, the East Quad had recently undergone a renovation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Landers |first=Susan |date=2025-12-22 |title=Brooklyn College to Begin Major Renovation of East Quad |url=https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-brief/brooklyn-college-to-begin-major-renovation-of-east-quad/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=Brooklyn College |language=en-US}}</ref> However, students complained and criticized the action as inconvenient as it hinders their ability to go to their classes on time.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://datelinecuny.com/2026/03/east-quad-renovation-causing-inconveniences-for-students/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=datelinecuny.com|title=East Quad Renovation Causing Inconveniences for Students}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Complicated Commute: East Quad Renovation Causing Inconveniences for the Student Body – The Brooklyn College Vanguard |url=https://vanguard.blog.brooklyn.edu/2026/03/complicated-commute-east-quad-renovation-causing-inconveniences-for-the-student-body/ |access-date=2026-03-24 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Organization== thumb|Entry gate thumb|West Quad Center thumb|James Hall thumb|Roosevelt Hall thumb|Boylan Hall thumb|Lily Pond
Brooklyn College has five schools: * Murray Koppelman School of Business * School of Education * School of Humanities and Social Sciences * School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences * School of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts
==Public transit access== Brooklyn College is accessible from the Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College station, which is served by the 2 and 5 trains. The College is about a half-mile (a ten-minute walk) from the Avenue H station of the Q line. It can also be reached by the {{NYC bus link|B6|B11|B41|B44|B49|B103}}, or {{NYC bus link|Q35}} bus.<ref>{{cite NYC bus map|B}}</ref>
==Academics== {| class="wikitable floatright sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;" |+ style="font-size:90%" |Undergraduate demographics as of Fall 2023<ref>{{cite web |title= College Scorecard: CUNY Brooklyn College|url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?190549-CUNY-Brooklyn-College|website=College Scorecard |publisher=United States Department of Education |access-date=August 17, 2025}}</ref> |- ! Race and ethnicity ! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Total |- | Asian |align=right| {{bartable|25|%|2||background:orange}} |- | White |align=right| {{bartable|24|%|2||background:cyan}} |- | Hispanic |align=right| {{bartable|24|%|2||background:green}} |- | Black |align=right| {{bartable|21|%|2||background:purple}} |- | International student |align=right| {{bartable|3|%|2||background:#008080}} |- | Two or more races |align=right| {{bartable|3|%|2||background:violet}} |- ! colspan="4" data-sort-type=number |Economic diversity |- | Low-income{{efn|The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.}} |align=right| {{bartable|59|%|2||background:red}} |- | Affluent{{efn|The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.}} |align=right| {{bartable|41|%|2||background:black}} |}
===Undergraduate curriculum=== Beginning in 1981, the college instituted a group of classes that all undergraduates were required to take, called "Core Studies".<ref name="autogenerated1"/> The classes were: Classical Origins of Western Culture, Introduction to Art, Introduction to Music, People, Power, and Politics, The Shaping of the Modern World, Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning and Computer Programming, Landmarks of Literature, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geology, Studies in African, Asian, and Latin American Cultures, and Knowledge, Existence and Values.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/CoreStudies.html |title=Old Core Curriculum |publisher=Brooklyn College |access-date=July 21, 2011}}</ref>
In 2006, the Core Curriculum was revamped, and the 13 required courses were replaced with 15 courses in 3 disciplines, from which students were required to take 11.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/portal/core/index.html |title=New Core Curriculum |publisher=Brooklyn College |date=February 6, 2009 |access-date=July 21, 2011}}</ref> In the fall of 2013, Brooklyn College embarked on CUNY's new general education alternative, the Pathways curriculum, consisting of three components: Required Core (four courses), Flexible Core (six courses) and College Option (four courses)—totaling 42 credits.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/general/pathways.php|title=Brooklyn College – Pathways |publisher=Brooklyn College |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> Brooklyn College offers over a hundred majors varying from the visual arts to Women's Studies.<ref>[http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/programs/index.jsp?div=U "Undergraduate Programs and Advisors"] ''Brooklyn College''</ref>
===Division of Graduate Studies=== The Division of Graduate Studies at Brooklyn College was established in 1935 and offers more than seventy programs in the arts, education, humanities, sciences, and computer and social sciences. Among those programs is the Graduate theatre program, which is the top ranked in the CUNY system and 14th in the United States; faculty include Tony Award nominee Justin Townsend.<ref>[http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/theater/people_faculty_townsend_justin.html "Justin Townsend"] Brooklyn College website</ref><ref>[http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/search/results.html?query=Justin+Townsend "Justin Townsend"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225083021/http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/search/results.html?query=Justin+Townsend |date=2016-12-25 }} Tony Award Nominees</ref>
===B.A.–M.D. program=== The Brooklyn College B.A.–M.D. program is an eight-year program affiliated with SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The program follows a rigorous selection process, with a maximum of 15 students selected every year. Each student selected to the program receives a Brooklyn College Presidential Scholarship. B.A.–M.D. students must engage in community service for three years, beginning in their lower sophomore semester. During one summer of their undergraduate studies, students are required to volunteer in a clinical setting where they are involved in direct patient care. B.A.–M.D. students are encouraged to major in the humanities or social sciences.<ref name="bamd">{{cite web |url=http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bamd/GenInfo.html |title=General Information |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2018 |website=B.A.-M.D. Program |publisher=Brooklyn College |access-date=February 19, 2018 }}</ref>
===The Scholars Program=== The Scholars Program is home to a small number of students with strong writing ability and academic record. Being the oldest honors program in the CUNY system, The Scholars Program has served as a model for many other honors programs nationwide. It was established in 1960 and is an interdisciplinary liberal arts program. The program offers honors-level Core courses and seminars as well as small, personalized classes. Upon graduation from Brooklyn College, many Scholars continue their education in competitive programs at top-ranked universities like Princeton, Yale, and New York University. The program accepts incoming freshmen in addition to matriculated sophomores and transfer students (up to 48 credits). Once admitted, they receive a Brooklyn College Foundation Presidential Scholarship of up to $4,000 for every year of their undergraduate study at Brooklyn College and a laptop computer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/honors/academy/programs/scholars.php|title=Scholars Program |publisher=Brooklyn College |access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref>
===Coordinated Engineering Program=== The Coordinated Honors Engineering Program offers a course of study equivalent to the first two years at any engineering school. Students who maintain the required academic level are guaranteed transfer to one of the three coordinating schools—New York University Tandon School of Engineering, City College of New York School of Engineering, and the College of Staten Island Engineering Science Program—to complete their bachelor's degree in engineering. Coordinating Engineering students have also transferred to the New York Institute of Technology, Stony Brook University, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Cooper Union, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Students admitted as incoming First-Year receive a Brooklyn College Foundation Presidential Scholarship that provides full tuition for their two years of full-time undergraduate study in the Coordinated Engineering Program. As members of the Honors Academy, Engineering Honors students take advantage of individual advising, faculty consultation, and early registration. In the Commons they find study facilities, computer access, academic, scholarship, internship, and career opportunities, and, above all, intellectual stimulation among other talented students like themselves. Students applying to the Engineering Honors Program will also be considered for the Scholars Program.<ref>[http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/engineering.htm Engineering] ''Brooklyn College'' {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080912221247/http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/engineering.htm |date=September 12, 2008 }}</ref>
===Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema=== {{main|Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema}}
Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema is the first public graduate film school in New York City. It is the only film school in America to have its own classroom on a film lot with the collaboration of Steiner Studios, the largest soundstage on the East Coast. The program offers a two-year M.A. in Cinema Studies, a two-year M.F.A. in Cinema Arts in the discipline of Producing, and a three-year M.F.A in Cinema Arts with five disciplines of cinematography, directing, post-production, screenwriting, and Digital Arts and Visual Effects. The school opened in the fall of 2015. The first graduating class was in Spring 2018.
===Rankings=== {{Infobox US university ranking | Forbes = 362 | THE_WSJ = 358 | USNWR_REG = 38 | Wamo_MASTERSU = 84 }}
''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the school tied for 62nd overall as a Regional college (North region), 6th in "Top Performers on Social Mobility", 15th in "Top Public Schools", and tied for 33rd in "Best Colleges for Veterans" for 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/brooklyn-college-2687/overall-rankings|title=Brooklyn College Rankings|work=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=October 21, 2020}}</ref>
==Athletics== Brooklyn College athletic teams are nicknamed the Bulldogs. The college is a member at the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); primarily competing in the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) since the 1996–97 academic year (which they also competed in a previous stint from 1978–79 to 1979–80). The Bulldogs previously competed in the East Coast Conference at the Division I level during the 1991–92 academic year.
Men's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis and volleyball. Their basketball program would find infamy for being the first reported incident of a potential bribe to fix a game against the Municipal University of Akron (now just the University of Akron) on January 29, 1945, leading to five arrests against Brooklyn College's players in question.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ESPN Classic - Rumblings: The Brooklyn five |url=https://www.espn.com/classic/s/basketball_scandals_rumblings.html |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=www.espn.com}}</ref> Another former basketball player of theirs, a previous captain named David Budin, would later be involved as a part of the 1961 NCAA University Division men's basketball gambling scandal as a late addition for Jack Molinas' rigging group in question.<ref>{{cite book|last=Figone |first=Albert |year=2012 |title=Cheating the Spread: Gamblers, Point Shavers, and Game Fixers in College Football and Basketball|publisher=Urbana: University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252037283}}, pp. 90–91</ref> From 1971 to 1977, future Olympic coach Michel Sebastiani was the head fencing coach of the men's fencing team.<ref name="auto1aa">[http://www.sebastianifencing.com/instructors.html "Instructors,"] Sebastiani Fencing.</ref> The football field was used for the outdoor scenes in the 1978 adult film Debbie Does Dallas.<ref>{{cite web |last1=West |first1=Ashley |title=Adult Film Locations 8: Debbie Does Dallas (1978) |url=https://www.therialtoreport.com/2016/10/09/debbie-does-dallas/ |website=therialtoreport.com |date=9 October 2016 |access-date=3 June 2023}}</ref>
===Mascot=== In 2010, Brooklyn College adopted the Bulldog as its new mascot.<ref>[http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/off_dosa/100101_SA_Newsletter_Spring2010.pdf "Newsletter Spring 2010"] ''Brooklyn College''</ref> The athletic program was originally known as the Kingsmen. In 1994, the mascot was changed to the Bridges. However, after the school built new facilities and underwent other changes the athletic director pushed for a new name to reflect the new program.<ref>Staff (October 25, 2009) [http://www.brooklyncollegeathletics.com/news/2009/10/15/GEN_1015095428.aspx "Brooklyn College To Choose New Athletics Team Name & Mascot"] ''Brooklyn College Bulldogs''</ref>
==Notable people==
===Notable alumni=== {{Main|List of Brooklyn College alumni}}
<gallery class="center" widths="152" heights="152"> File:Ks 1996 dole.jpg|Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee: Bob Dole (1943–1944) File:Bernie Sanders.jpg|Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (1959–1960) File:Barbara Boxer 2005.jpg|California senator and representative Barbara Boxer (B.A. 1962) File:Shirley Chisholm.jpg|Shirley Chisholm, first black woman elected to US Congress (B.A. 1946) File:Stanley Cohen Nobel.webp|Biochemist and Nobel Laureate Stanley Cohen (B.A. 1943) File:Alan dershowitz 2009 retouched cropped.jpg|Alan Dershowitz, attorney and law professor (B.A. 1959) File:James Franco 2007 Spiderman 3 premiere.jpg|James Franco, actor (M.F.A.) File:Philip Zimbardo (cropped).jpg|Social psychologist Philip Zimbardo (B.A. 1954) File:Don Lemon at the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes.jpg|Don Lemon, Edward R. Murrow Award and Emmy Award winning CNN News anchor and journalist (B.A. 1996) </gallery>
Notable alumni of Brooklyn College in government include Senate majority leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee: Bob Dole (1943–1944),<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.nydailynews.com/1998/10/12/half-century-later-dole-revisits-college// |title=Half-Century Later Dole Revisits College |website=NY Daily News|date=12 October 1998 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.army.mil/article/259892/dole_barracks_memorialization_at_fort_drum_honors_late_u_s_senator_10th_mountain_division_war_veteran |title=Dole Barracks memorialization at Fort Drum honors late U.S. senator, 10th Mountain Division war veteran |website=U.S. Army|date=1 September 2022}}</ref> Senator Bernie Sanders (1959–1960),<ref>Horowitz, Jason (July 24, 2015) [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/us/politics/bernie-sanderss-100-brooklyn-roots-show-beyond-his-accent.html?_r=0 "Bernie Sanders’s ‘100% Brooklyn’ Roots Are as Unshakable as His Accent"] ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>Staff (July 13, 2016) [http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/27/us/bernie-sanders-fast-facts/index.html "Bernie Sanders Fast Facts"] CNN</ref> Senator Barbara Boxer (née Barbara Levy; B.A. 1962), Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (B.A. 1946), Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen Manuel F. Cohen (B.S. 1933) and Harvey Pitt (B.A. 1965), and federal judges Rosemary S. Pooler (B.A. 1959), Jack B. Weinstein (B.A. 1943), Sterling Johnson Jr. (B.A. 1963), Edward R. Korman (B.A. 1963), Joel Harvey Slomsky (B.A. 1967), and Jason K. Pulliam (B.A. 1995; M.A. 1997).
Notable alumni in business include Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu CEO Barry Salzberg (B.S. 1974), Adobe Inc. CEO Bruce Chizen (B.S. 1978), Warner Bros. and Los Angeles Dodgers CEO Robert A. Daly, New York Mets President Saul Katz (B.A. 1960), Boston Celtics owner Marvin Kratter (1937), David Geffen, New Line Cinema CEO Michael Lynne (B.A. 1961), CBS Records CEO Walter Yetnikoff (B.A. 1953), Vanguard Records co-founder Maynard Solomon (B.A. 1950), and Gannett Chairman Marjorie Magner (B.S. 1969).
Notable alumni in the sciences and academia include Nobel Prize–winning biochemist Stanley Cohen (B.A. 1943), Fields Medal–winning mathematician Paul Cohen (1953), social psychologists Stanley Milgram (B.A. 1954) and Philip Zimbardo (B.A. 1954), Harvard Law School professor and author Alan M. Dershowitz (A.B. 1959), Columbia Law School Dean Barbara Aronstein Black (B.A. 1953), California State University Chancellor Barry Munitz (B.A. 1963), City College of New York President Lisa Staiano-Coico (B.S. 1976), and NASA scientist and College of William & Mary professor Joel S. Levine (B.S. 1964).
Notable alumni in the arts include Academy, Emmy, and Tony Award–winning director, writer, and actor Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky; 1946), Golden Globe Award–winning actor James Franco (M.F.A. 2009), Emmy Award–winning actor Jimmy Smits (B.A. 1980), Academy Award–winning screenwriter Frank Tarloff (B.A.), Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Paul Mazursky (B.A. 1952) and Oren Moverman (B.A. 1992), ''Sopranos'' stars Steve Schirripa (B.A. 1980) and Dominic Chianese (B.A. 1961), director Joel Zwick (1962; M.A. 1968), Grammy Award winner Peter Nero (born Bernard Nierow; B.A. 1956), O. Henry Award–winning author Irwin Shaw (born Irwin Shamforoff; B.A. 1934); and a number of Pulitzer Prize winners: author Frank McCourt (M.A. 1967), playwrights Howard Sackler (B.A. 1950) and Annie Baker (M.F.A. 2009), journalists Sylvan Fox (B.A. 1951), Stanley Penn (1947), and Harold C. Schonberg (B.A. 1937), photographer Max Desfor, and historian Oscar Handlin (B.A. 1934).
Other notable alumni include Olympic fencers Ralph Goldstein and Nikki Franke (B.S. 1972), chess grandmaster and five-time U.S. champion Gata Kamsky (B.A. 1999), Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane (B.A. 1954), and civil rights activist Al Sharpton (1975).
===Notable faculty=== {{Excessive examples|section|date=February 2026}}
<gallery widths="152" heights="152" class="center"> File:F Murray.Abraham cropped.jpg|F. Murray Abraham File:Hannah Arendt 1975 (cropped).jpg|Hannah Arendt File:Ashbery-2010-09-12.jpg|John Ashbery File:Michael Cunningham JB by David Shankbone.jpg|Michael Cunningham File:Allen Ginsberg 1979 - cropped.jpg|Allen Ginsberg File:ItzhakPerlmanWhitehouse2.jpg|Itzhak Perlman File:Consuelo Kanaga, Mark Rothko, Yorktown Heights, ca. 1949.jpg|Mark Rothko File:Ruth Westheimer (10877).jpg|Dr. Ruth File:C.K. Williams (1986).jpg|C. K. Williams </gallery> * F. Murray Abraham (born 1939), actor of stage and screen; professor of theater, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor * Vito Acconci, designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist * Solomon Asch, social psychologist * Dorothy Inez Adams (1904–1967), anthropologist * Eric Alterman (born 1960), liberal journalist * Lennart Anderson, figurative painter * Hannah Arendt, philosopher and political theorist; author of ''The Origins of Totalitarianism'' (1951) and ''The Human Condition'' (1958) * Solomon Asch, Polish-American Gestalt psychologist and pioneer in social psychology * John Ashbery (1927–2017), poet, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner; tenured faculty member from c. 1972 to 1986 * Robert Beauchamp, painter<ref name="Ro">{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Robert Beauchamp, American (1923–1995) |publisher=Ro Gallery |url=http://rogallery.com/Beauchamp_Robert/beauchamp-bio.html |access-date=Jun 30, 2011}}</ref> *Maír José Benardete, scholar of Sephardic studies and Professor of Spanish and Sephardic Studies *Adele Bildersee (1883–1971), English professor, dean; one of the college's founding faculty members * William Boylan (1869–1940), first president of Brooklyn College * Edwin G. Burrows (1943–2018), historian; Pulitzer Prize for History winner for co-writing ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'' with Mike Wallace * Frances Sergeant Childs, historian; one of the college's founding faculty members * Margaret Clapp, scholar, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, President of Wellesley College * Michael Cunningham (born 1952), novelist; winner of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and PEN/Faulkner Award for ''The Hours'' * Rudy D'Amico (born 1940), professional National Basketball Association scout, and former Brooklyn College and professional basketball coach who coached Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Euroleague Championship * Lois Dodd (born 1927), painter * Charles Dodge (born 1942), composer, founder of the Center for Computer Music * Alphonsus J. Donlon, President of Georgetown University * Paul Edwards (born Paul Eisenstein), Professor of Philosophy, editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' * John Hope Franklin, historian of the US, former chairman of the History Department, president of Phi Beta Kappa, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom * Jack Gelber, playwright and theater director; taught at Brooklyn College 1972–2003 * Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), Beat Generation poet and Pulitzer Prize for Poetry finalist; Distinguished Professor of English from 1986 to 1997, replacing Ashbery (who accepted a MacArthur Fellowship and later moved to Bard College) * Betty Glad, Chair of Political Science at the University of Illinois * Ralph Goldstein (1913–1997), Olympic épée fencer<ref>Associated Press. [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/28/sports/ralph-goldstein-83-olympian-with-lasting-passion-for-fencing.html "Ralph Goldstein, 83, Olympian With Lasting Passion for Fencing"], ''The New York Times'', July 28, 1997. Accessed February 7, 2018. "Mr. Goldstein, who was born Oct. 6, 1913, in Malden, Mass., and grew up on the Lower East Side, attended Brooklyn College and had lived in Yonkers since 1948."</ref> * Joel Glucksman (born 1949), Olympic saber fencer * Maxine Greene (née Meyer), William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University * David Grubbs (born 1967), musician, composer, recording artist * Carey Harrison (born 1944), novelist/dramatist * Amy Hempel (born 1951), short story writer, journalist, and coordinator of the MFA Fiction-Writing Program * Seymour L. Hess, meteorologist and planetary scientist * Shintaro Higashi, 6th degree black belt in judo, 2007 and 2011 USA Judo Senior National Champion * Agnieszka Holland (born 1948), film director, best known for ''Europa Europa'' (1992) * Carl Holty, painter * Karen Brooks Hopkins, President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music * John Hospers, first presidential candidate of the US Libertarian Party; professor 1956–66 * Paul Jacobs, classical pianist; specialist in modern music * KC Johnson, professor of American history * Mburumba Kerina (1932–2021), Deputy Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia * Béla Király (1912–2009), professor emeritus, former Hungarian general taught military history and central European history * Jerome Krase, professor emeritus of sociology at the Murray Koppelman School of Business * Alfred McClung Lee, Chairman of the Sociology and Anthropology departments at Wayne University and Brooklyn College * Tania León, Cuban-born composer and conductor, Pulitzer Prize for Music winner * Don Lemon, CNN anchor and journalist * Ben Lerner, poet and writer * Ira N. Levine (1937–2015), author and professor in the Chemistry Department * Abraham Maslow, psychologist in the school of humanistic psychology, best known for his theory of human motivation which led to a therapeutic technique known as self-actualization; taught 1937–1951 * Wilson Carey McWilliams, political scientist, author of ''The Idea of Fraternity in America'' (1973, University of California Press), for which he won the National Historical Society prize in 1974 * Denise O'Connor (born 1935), Olympic foil fencer * Carol J. Oja, musicologist and scholar of American Studies, William Powell Mason Professor at Harvard University * Ursula Oppens, pianist, co-founded the contemporary music ensemble Speculum Musicae, Conservatory of Music * Philip Pearlstein, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, influential painter known for his Modernist Realism nudes * Itzhak Perlman, violinist, Conservatory of Music * Roman Popadiuk, US Ambassador to Ukraine * Tubby Raskin (1902–1981), basketball player and coach * Arthur S. Reber (1970–2005), Broeklundian Professor of Psychology, known for his research on implicit learning * Inez Smith Reid, Senior Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals * Walter Rosenblum, photographer who documented action during World War II; taught at Brooklyn College for 40 years * Mark Rothko (born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz; 1903–1970), influential abstract expressionist painter * Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, novelist and Broeklundian Professor of English * Albert Schatz, microbiologist, co-discoverer of streptomycin * William Schimmel, composer * Michel Sebastiani, Olympic fencing coach and member of the US Fencing Association Hall of Fame * Mitchell Silver, Commissioner of the New York City Parks Department * Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith, Ambassador for the United States to Cameroon and later Equatorial Guinea * Stephen Solarz, US Congressional Representative from New York * Eileen Southern, musicologist, researcher, author, and teacher * Mark Strand, United States Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry–winning poet, essayist, and translator * Glenn Thrush, ''Politico'' senior writer, author * Hans L. Trefousse, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of History; taught 1946–1998, historian and author<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2010/1004/1004mem2.cfm|title=Hans L. Trefousse (1921–2010)|work=Historians.org|access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> * Mervin F. Verbit, chair of the Sociology Department at Touro College * Carleton Washburne, Director of Teacher Education, known for his progressive education works * Mac Wellman, Obie Award–winning playwright, author, and poet * Ruth Westheimer (better known as Dr. Ruth; born Karola Ruth Siegel, 1928), German-American sex therapist, author, radio, television talk show host, former Haganah sniper, and Holocaust survivor * C. K. Williams, poet, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry * Ethyle R. Wolfe, professor from 1947 to 1989, created the Ethyle R. Wolfe Humanities Institute at the college.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Clayman |first=Dee L. |date=2010-09-11 |title=Ethyle R. Wolfe (1919–2010) |journal=Classical World |language=en |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=542–543 |doi=10.1353/clw.2010.0004 |s2cid=162251633 |issn=1558-9234 }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26631998/daily_news/|title=Journalism Award for Media Founder|last=Copage|first=Eric V.|date=17 October 1982|work=Daily News|access-date=2018-12-29|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * Theresa Wolfson, Professor of Labor Economics, won the John Dewey Award of the League for Industrial Democracy<ref name="Jewish Women's Archive">{{cite web|title=Theresa Wolfson|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wolfson-theresa|work=Jewish Women's Archive|access-date=May 13, 2011}}</ref><ref name="JVL Theresa Wolfson">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Wolfson, Theresa|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0021_0_21065.html|encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=May 14, 2011}}</ref> * Joel Zwick (born 1942), professor in the Film Department, director of ''Full House'', ''Fuller House'', ''Family Matters'', ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'', and ''Fat Albert'' * Ad Reinhardt, Elizabeth Murray, Vito Acconci, William T. Williams, Archie Rand, Jennifer McCoy, Patricia Cronin
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{official website}} * [https://www.brooklyncollegeathletics.com/ Athletics website]
{{CUNY}} {{Education in Brooklyn}} {{CUNY Athletic Conference}} {{Portal bar|New York City|Education}} {{authority control}}
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