City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges, one undergraduate honors college, and seven post-graduate institutions. While its constituent colleges date back as far as 1847, the City University was established in 1961. The university enrolls more than 275,000 students, and counts thirteen Nobel Prize winners and twenty-four MacArthur Fellows among its alumni.
History
Founding
In 1960 John R. Everett became the first Chancellor of the Municipal College System of the City of New York, to be renamed CUNY, for a salary of $25,000. CUNY was created in 1961, by New York State legislation, signed into law by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The legislation integrated existing institutions and a new graduate school into a coordinated system of higher education for the city, under the control of the "Board of Higher Education of the City of New York", which had been created by New York State legislation in 1926. By 1979, the Board of Higher Education had become the "Board of Trustees of the CUNY".The institutions that were merged to create CUNY were:
- The Free Academy – Founded in 1847 by Townsend Harris, it was fashioned as "a Free Academy for the purpose of extending the benefits of education gratuitously to persons who have been pupils in the common schools of the city and county of New York." The Free Academy later became the City College of New York.
- The Female Normal and High School – Founded in 1870, and later renamed the Normal College. It would be renamed again in 1914 to Hunter College. During the early 20th century, Hunter College expanded into the Bronx, with what became Herbert Lehman College.
- Brooklyn College – Founded in 1930.
- Queens College – Founded in 1937.
Accessible education
As New York City's population—and public college enrollment—grew during the early 20th century and the city struggled for resources, the municipal colleges slowly began adopting selective tuition, also known as instructional fees, for a handful of courses and programs. During the Great Depression, with funding for the public colleges severely constrained, limits were imposed on the size of the colleges' free Day Session, and tuition was imposed upon students deemed "competent" but not academically qualified for the day program. Most of these "limited matriculation" students enrolled in the Evening Session, and paid tuition. Additionally, as the population of New York grew, CUNY was not able to accommodate the demand for higher education. Higher and higher requirements for admission were imposed; in 1965, a student seeking admission to CUNY needed an average of 92, or A-. This helped to ensure that the student population of CUNY remained largely white and middle-class.
Demand in the United States for higher education rapidly grew after World War II, and during the mid-1940s a movement began to create community colleges to provide accessible education and training. In New York City, however, the community-college movement was constrained by many factors including "financial problems, narrow perceptions of responsibility, organizational weaknesses, adverse political factors, and other competing priorities."
Community colleges would have drawn from the same city coffers that were funding the senior colleges, and city higher education officials were of the view that the state should finance them. It was not until 1955, under a shared-funding arrangement with New York State, that New York City established its first community college, on Staten Island. Unlike the day college students attending the city's public baccalaureate colleges for free, the community college students had to pay tuition fees under the state-city funding formula. Community college students paid tuition fees for approximately 10 years.
Over time, tuition fees for limited-matriculated students became an important source of system revenues. In fall 1957, for example, nearly 36,000 attended Hunter, Brooklyn, Queens and City Colleges for free, but another 24,000 paid tuition fees of up to $300 a year. Undergraduate tuition and other student fees in 1957 comprised 17 percent of the colleges' $46.8 million in revenues, about $7.74 million.
Three community colleges had been established by early 1961, when New York City's public colleges were codified by the state as a single university with a chancellor at the helm and an infusion of state funds. But the city's slowness in creating the community colleges as demand for college seats was intensifying and had resulted in mounting frustration, particularly on the part of minorities, that college opportunities were not available to them.
In 1964, as New York City's Board of Higher Education moved to take full responsibility for the community colleges, city officials extended the senior colleges' free tuition policy to them, a change that was included by Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. in his budget plans and took effect with the 1964–65 academic year.
Calls for greater access to public higher education from the Black and Puerto Rican communities in New York, especially in Brooklyn, led to the founding of "Community College Number 7," later Medgar Evers College, in 1966–1967. In 1969, a group of Black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College and demanded the racial integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body.
Student protests
Students at some campuses became increasingly frustrated with the university's and Board of Higher Education's handling of university administration. At Baruch College in 1967, over a thousand students protested the plan to make the college an upper-division school limited to junior, senior, and graduate students. At Brooklyn College in 1968, students attempted a sit-in to demand the admission of more black and Puerto Rican students and additional black studies curriculum. Students at Hunter College also demanded a Black studies program. Members of the SEEK program, which provided academic support for underprepared and underprivileged students, staged a building takeover at Queens College in 1969 to protest the decisions of the program's director, who would later be replaced by a black professor. Puerto Rican students at Bronx Community College filed a report with the New York State Division of Human Rights in 1970, contending that the intellectual level of the college was inferior and discriminatory. Hunter College was crippled for several days by a protest of 2,000 students who had a list of demands focusing on more student representation in college administration. Across CUNY, students boycotted their campuses in 1970 to protest a rise in student fees and other issues, including the proposed open admissions plan.Like many college campuses in 1970, CUNY faced a number of protests and demonstrations after the Kent State shootings and Cambodian Campaign. The Administrative Council of the City University of New York sent U.S. President Richard Nixon a telegram in 1970 stating, "No nation can long endure the alienation of the best of its young people." Some colleges, including John Jay College of Criminal Justice, historically the "college for cops," held teach-ins in addition to student and faculty protests.
Open admissions
Under pressure from community activists and CUNY Chancellor Albert Bowker, the Board of Higher Education approved an [|Open Admissions] plan in 1966, but it was not scheduled to be fully implemented until 1975. However, in 1969, students and faculty across CUNY participated in rallies, student strikes, and class boycotts demanding an end to CUNY's restrictive admissions policies. CUNY administrators and Mayor John Lindsay expressed support for these demands, and the BHE voted to implement the plan immediately in the fall of 1970.The doors to CUNY were opened wide to all those demanding entrance, assuring all high school graduates entrance to the university without having to fulfill traditional requirements such as exams or grades. This policy was known as open admissions and nearly doubled the number of students enrolling in the CUNY system to 35,000. With greater numbers came more diversity: Black and Hispanic student enrollment increased threefold. Remedial education, to supplement the training of under-prepared students, became a significant part of CUNY's offerings.
Additionally, ethnic and Black Studies programs and centers were instituted on many CUNY campuses, contributing to the growth of similar programs nationwide.
However, retention of students in CUNY during this period was low, with two-thirds of students enrolled in the early 1970s leaving within four years without graduating. Robert Kibbee was Chancellor of the City University of New York, the third-largest university in the United States, from 1971 to 1982.
Financial crisis of 1976
In fall 1976, during New York City's fiscal crisis, the free tuition policy was discontinued under pressure from the federal government, the financial community that had a role in rescuing the city from bankruptcy, and New York State, which would take over the funding of CUNY's senior colleges. Tuition, which had been in place in the State University of New York system since 1963, was instituted at all CUNY colleges.Meanwhile, CUNY students were added to the state's need-based Tuition Assistance Program, which had been created to help private colleges. Full-time students who met the income eligibility criteria were permitted to receive TAP, ensuring for the first time that financial hardship would deprive no CUNY student of a college education. Within a few years, the federal government would create its own need-based program, known as Pell Grants, providing the neediest students with a tuition-free college education. Joseph S. Murphy was Chancellor of the City University of New York from 1982 to 1990, when he resigned. CUNY at the time was the third-largest university in the United States, with over 180,000 students.
By 2011, nearly six of ten full- time undergraduates qualified for a tuition-free education at CUNY due in large measure to state, federal and CUNY financial aid programs. CUNY's enrollment dipped after tuition was re-established, and there were further enrollment declines through the 1980s and into the 1990s.
Financial crisis of 1995
In 1995, CUNY suffered another fiscal crisis when Governor George Pataki proposed a drastic cut in state financing. Faculty cancelled classes and students staged protests. By May, CUNY adopted deep cuts to college budgets and class offerings. By June, to save money spent on remedial programs, CUNY adopted a stricter admissions policy for its senior colleges: students deemed unprepared for college would not be admitted, this a departure from the 1970 Open Admissions program. That year's final state budget cut funding by $102 million, which CUNY absorbed by increasing tuition by $750 and offering a retirement incentive plan for faculty.In 1999, a task force appointed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani issued a report that described CUNY as "an institution adrift" and called for an improved, more cohesive university structure and management, as well as more consistent academic standards. Following the report, Matthew Goldstein, a mathematician and City College graduate who had led CUNY's Baruch College and briefly, Adelphi University, was appointed chancellor. CUNY ended its policy of open admissions to its four-year colleges, raised its admissions standards at its most selective four-year colleges, and required new enrollees who needed remediation, to begin their studies at a CUNY open-admissions community college.
2010 onwards
CUNY's enrollment of degree-credit students reached 220,727 in 2005 and 262,321 in 2010 as the university broadened its academic offerings. The university added more than 2,000 full-time faculty positions, opened new schools and programs, and expanded the university's fundraising efforts to help pay for them. Fundraising increased from $35 million in 2000 to more than $200 million in 2012.As of Autumn 2013, all CUNY undergraduates are required to take an administration-dictated common core of courses which have been claimed to meet specific "learning outcomes" or standards. Since the courses are accepted university-wide, the administration claims it will be easier for students to transfer course credits between CUNY colleges. It also reduced the number of core courses some CUNY colleges had required, to a level below national norms, particularly in the sciences. The program is the target of several lawsuits by students and faculty, and was the subject of a "no confidence" vote by the faculty, who rejected it by an overwhelming 92% margin.
Chancellor Goldstein retired on July 1, 2013, and was replaced on June 1, 2014, by James Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska, and a graduate of the University of Nebraska and New York University Law School. Milliken retired at the end of the 2018 academic year and moved on to become the Chancellor for the University of Texas system.
In 2018, CUNY opened its 25th campus, the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, named after former president Joseph S. Murphy and combining some forms and functions of the Murphy Institute that were housed at the CUNY School of Professional Studies.
On February 13, 2019, the Board of Trustees voted to appoint Queens College President Felix V. Matos Rodriguez as the chancellor of the City University of New York. Matos became both the first Latino and minority educator to head the University. He assumed the post May 1.
Enrollment and demographics
CUNY is the fourth-largest university system in the United States by enrollment, behind the California State University system, the State University of New York system, and the University of California system. More than 271,000-degree-credit students, continuing, and professional education students are enrolled at campuses located in all five New York City boroughs.The university has one of the most diverse student bodies in the United States, with students hailing from around the world, but mostly from New York City. The black, white and Hispanic undergraduate populations each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asian undergraduates make up 18 percent. Fifty-eight percent are female, and 28 percent are 25 or older. In the 2017–2018 award year, 144,380 CUNY students received the Federal Pell Grant.
Academics
Component institutions
| Est. | Type | Name |
| 1847 | Senior College | City College |
| 1870 | Senior College | Hunter College |
| 1919 | Senior College | Baruch College |
| 1930 | Senior College | Brooklyn College |
| 1937 | Senior College | Queens College |
| 1946 | Senior College | New York City College of Technology |
| 1964 | Senior College | John Jay College of Criminal Justice |
| 1966 | Senior College | York College |
| 1968 | Senior College | Lehman College |
| 1970 | Senior College | Medgar Evers College |
| 1976 | Senior College | College of Staten Island |
| 2001 | Honors College | William E. Macaulay Honors College |
| 1957 | Community College | Bronx Community College |
| 1958 | Community College | Queensborough Community College |
| 1963 | Community College | Borough of Manhattan Community College |
| 1963 | Community College | Kingsborough Community College |
| 1968 | Community College | LaGuardia Community College |
| 1970 | Community College | Hostos Community College |
| 2011 | Community College | Guttman Community College |
| 1961 | Graduate / professional | CUNY Graduate Center |
| 1973 | Graduate / professional | CUNY School of Medicine |
| 1983 | Graduate / professional | CUNY School of Law |
| 2006 | Graduate / professional | CUNY Graduate School of Journalism |
| 2006 | Graduate / professional | CUNY School of Professional Studies |
| 2008 | Graduate / professional | CUNY School of Public Health |
| 2018 | Graduate / professional | CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies |
Management structure
The forerunner of today's City University of New York was governed by the Board of Education of New York City. Members of the Board of Education, chaired by the President of the board, served as ex officio trustees. For the next four decades, the board members continued to serve as ex officio trustees of the College of the City of New York and the city's other municipal college, the Normal College of the City of New York.In 1900, the New York State Legislature created separate boards of trustees for the College of the City of New York and the Normal College, which became Hunter College in 1914. In 1926, the Legislature established the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, which assumed supervision of both municipal colleges.
In 1961, the New York State Legislature established the City University of New York, uniting what had become seven municipal colleges at the time: the City College of New York, Hunter College, Brooklyn College, Queens College, Staten Island Community College, Bronx Community College and Queensborough Community College. In 1979, the CUNY Financing and Governance Act was adopted by the State and the Board of Higher Education became the City University of New York Board of Trustees.
Today, the City University is governed by the Board of Trustees composed of 17 members, ten of whom are appointed by the Governor of New York "with the advice and consent of the senate," and five by the Mayor of New York City "with the advice and consent of the senate." The final two trustees are ex officio members. One is the chair of the university's student senate, and the other is non-voting and is the chair of the university's faculty senate. Both the mayoral and gubernatorial appointments to the CUNY Board are required to include at least one resident of each of New York City's five boroughs. Trustees serve seven-year terms, which are renewable for another seven years. The Chancellor is elected by the Board of Trustees, and is the "chief educational and administrative officer" of the City University.
The administrative offices are in Midtown Manhattan.
Chairs of the board
- 1847 Townsend Harris
- 1848 Robert Kelly
- 1850 Erastus C. Benedict
- 1855 William H. Neilson
- 1856 Andrew H. Green
- 1858 William H. Neilson
- 1859 Richard Warren
- 1860 William E. Curtis
- 1864 James M. McLean
- 1868 Richard L. Larremore
- 1870 Bernard Smyth
- 1873 Josiah Gilbert Holland
- 1874 William H. Neilson
- 1876 William Wood
- 1880 Stephen A. Walker
- 1886 J. Edward Simmons
- 1890 John L.N. Hunt
- 1893 Adolph Sanger
- 1894 Charles H. Knox
- 1895 Robert Maclay
- 1897 Charles Bulkley Hubbell
- 1899 J. Edward Swanstrom / Joseph J. Little
- 1901 Miles M. O'Brien
- 1902 Edward Lauterback / Charles C. Burlingham
- 1903 Henry A. Rogers
- 1904 Edward M. Shepard
- 1905 Henry N. Tifft
- 1906 Egerton L. Winthrop, Jr.
- 1911 Theodore F. Miller
- 1913 Frederick P. Bellamy / Thomas Winston Churchill
- 1914 Charles Edward Lydecker
- 1915 Paul Fuller
- 1916 George McAneny / Edward J. McGuire
- 1919 William G. Willcox
- 1921 Thomas Winston Churchill
- 1923 Edward Swann / Edward C. McParlan
- 1924 Harry P. Swift
- 1926 Moses J. Strook
- 1931 Charles H. Tuttle
- 1932 Mark Eisner
- 1938 Ordway Tead
- 1953 Joseph Cavallaro
- 1957 Gustave G. Rosenberg
- 1966 Porter R. Chandler
- 1971 Luis Quero-Chiesa
- 1974 Alfred A. Giardino
- 1976 Harold M. Jacobs
- 1980 James Murphy
- 1997 Ann Paolucci
- 1999 Herman Badillo
- 2001 Benno C. Schmidt Jr.
- 2016 Bill Thompson
Faculty
Notable faculty
- André Aciman, writer
- Ali Jimale Ahmed, poet and professor of Comparative Literature, Queens College and Graduate Center
- F. Murray Abraham, actor of stage and screen; professor of theater, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor, Brooklyn College
- Chantal Akerman, film director, City College of New York
- Meena Alexander, poet and writer, Graduate Center and Hunter College
- Hannah Arendt, philosopher and political theorist; author of The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition, Brooklyn College
- Talal Asad, anthropologist, Graduate Center
- John Ashbery, poet, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner, Brooklyn College
- William Bialek, biophysicist, Graduate Center
- Edwin G. Burrows, historian and writer, Pulitzer Prize for History winner for co-writing with Mike Wallace, Brooklyn College
- Dee L. Clayman, classicist, Graduate Center
- Margaret Clapp, scholar, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, President of Wellesley College, Brooklyn College
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer, journalist, and activist, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
- Billy Collins, poet, U.S. Poet Laureate, Lehman College
- Blanche Wiesen Cook, historian, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center
- John Corigliano, composer, Graduate Center
- Michael Cunningham, writer, winner of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and PEN/Faulkner Award for The Hours, Brooklyn College
- Roy DeCarava, artist and photographer, Hunter College
- Carolyn Eisele, mathematician, Hunter College
- Ruth Wilson Gilmore, geographer, Graduate Center
- Allen Ginsberg, beat poet, Brooklyn College
- Joel Glucksman, Olympic saber fencer, Brooklyn College
- Ralph Goldstein, Olympic épée fencer, Brooklyn College
- Michael Grossman, economist, Graduate Center
- Kimiko Hahn, poet, winner of PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, Queens College
- David Harvey, geographer, Graduate Center
- bell hooks, educator, writer and critic, City College of New York
- Karen Brooks Hopkins, President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn College
- John Hospers, first presidential candidate of the US Libertarian Party, Brooklyn College
- Tyehimba Jess, poet, winner of Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, College of Staten Island
- KC Johnson born,
- Michio Kaku, physicist, City College
- Jane Katz, Olympian swimmer, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Alfred Kazin, writer and critic, Hunter College and Graduate Center
- Saul Kripke, philosopher, Graduate Center
- Irving Kristol, journalist, City College
- Paul Krugman, economist, Graduate Center
- Peter Kwong, journalist, filmmaker, activist, Hunter College and Graduate Center
- Nathan H. Lents, scientist, author, and science communicator, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Ben Lerner, writer, MacArthur Fellow, Brooklyn College
- Audre Lorde, poet and activist, City College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Cate Marvin, poet, Guggenheim Fellowship winner, College of Staten Island
- 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, Brooklyn College
- John Matteson, historian and writer, Pulitzer Prize winner, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Maeve Kennedy McKean, attorney and public health official
- Stanley Milgram, social psychologist, Graduate Center
- June Nash, anthropologist, Graduate Center
- Denise O'Connor, Olympic foil fencer, Brooklyn College
- Itzhak Perlman, violinist, Brooklyn College
- Frances Fox Piven, political scientist, activist, and educator, Graduate Center
- Roman Popadiuk, US Ambassador to Ukraine, Brooklyn College
- Graham Priest, philosopher, Graduate Center
- Inez Smith Reid, Senior Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Brooklyn College
- Adrienne Rich, poet and activist, City College of New York
- David M. Rosenthal, philosopher, Graduate Center
- Mark Rothko, influential abstract expressionist painter, Brooklyn College
- Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., historian and social critic, Graduate Center
- Flora Rheta Schreiber, journalist, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, literary critic, Graduate Center
- Betty Shabazz, educator and activist, Medgar Evers College
- Mark Strand, United States Poet Laureate, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry-winning poet, essayist, and translator, Brooklyn College
- Dennis Sullivan, mathematician, Graduate Center
- Harold Syrett, President of Brooklyn College
- Katherine Verdery, anthropologist, Graduate Center
- Michele Wallace, women's studies and film studies, City College and Graduate Center
- Mike Wallace, historian and writer, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center
- Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist, media personality, author, radio, television talk show host, and Holocaust survivor, Brooklyn College
- Elie Wiesel, novelist, political activist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congressional Gold Medal, City College
- C. K. Williams, poet, won Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Brooklyn College
- Andrea Alu, engineer and physicist, Graduate Center
- Robert Alfano, physicist, discovered the supercontinuum, City College
Public Safety Department
The Public Safety Department came under heavy criticism from student groups, after several students protesting tuition increases tried to occupy the lobby of the Baruch College. The occupiers were forcibly removed from the area and several were arrested on November 21, 2011.
City University Television (CUNY TV)
CUNY also has a broadcast TV service, CUNY TV, which airs telecourses, classic and foreign films, magazine shows and panel discussions in foreign languages.City University Film Festival (CUNYFF)
The City University Film Festival is CUNY's official film festival. The festival was founded in 2009 by Hunter College student Daniel Cowen.Notable alumni
CUNY graduates include 13 Nobel laureates, 2 Fields Medalists, a U.S. Secretary of State, a Supreme Court Justice, several New York City mayors, members of Congress, state legislators, scientists, artists, and Olympians.| Name | Grad. | College | Notable for |
| Kenneth Arrow | 1940 | City | economist and joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics |
| Robert Aumann | 1950 | City | mathematician and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics |
| Albert Axelrod | City | Olympic foil fencer | |
| Herman Badillo | 1951 | City | civil rights activist and first Puerto Rican elected to the U.S. Congress |
| Daniel Bukantz | City | Olympic foil fencer | |
| Abram Cohen | City | Olympic foil, epee, and sabre fencer | |
| Arlene Davila | 1996 | City | author and Anthropology and American Studies professor at New York University |
| Jesse Douglas | 1916 | City | mathematician and winner of one of the first two Fields Medals |
| Abraham Foxman | City | national director, Anti-Defamation League | |
| Felix Frankfurter | 1902 | City | U.S. Supreme Court Justice |
| Harold Goldsmith | 1952 | City | Olympic foil and epee fencer |
| Andy Grove | 1960 | City | Chairman and CEO, Intel Corporation |
| Herbert A. Hauptman | 1937 | City | mathematician and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
| Jane Katz | 1963 | City | Olympic swimmer |
| Henry Kissinger | City | U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor | |
| Leonard Kleinrock | 1957 | City | computer scientist, Internet pioneer |
| Guillermo Linares | 1975 | City | New York City Council member, first Dominican-American City Council member and Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs |
| Nathaniel Lubell | 1936 | City | Olympic foil, saber, and epee fencer |
| Lisa Nakamura | 1993 1996 | City | Director and Professor of the Asian American Studies Program at the Institute of Communication Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Barnett Newman | 1927 | City | abstract expressionist artist |
| John O'Keefe | City | 2014 Nobel laureate in Medicine | |
| Colin Powell | 1958 | City | Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State |
| Mario Puzo | City | novelist, Oscar-winning screenwriter for Best Adapted Screenplay. | |
| Faith Ringgold | 1955 | City | feminist, writer and artist |
| A. M. Rosenthal | 1949 | City | executive editor of The New York Times who championed the publication of the Pentagon Papers; Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist expelled from Poland in 1959 for his reporting on the nation's government and society |
| Jonas Salk | 1934 | City | developed the first polio vaccine |
| Daniel Schorr | 1939 | City | Emmy award winning broadcast journalist for CBS-TV and National Public Radio |
| Elliott Fitch Shepard | 1855 | City | lawyer, banker, and a founder of the New York State Bar Association |
| James Strauch | City | Olympic epee fencer | |
| Bernard Weinraub | City | journalist and playwright | |
| Henry Wittenberg | City | Olympic champion wrestler | |
| Egemen Bağış | Baruch | Turkish politician, government minister | |
| Abraham Beame | 1928 | Baruch | born Abraham Birnbaum; Mayor of New York City |
| Robin Byrd | Baruch | host of public access program The Robin Byrd Show | |
| Barbara A. Cornblatt | 1977 | Baruch | professor of psychiatry and molecular medicine at Hofstra University School of Medicine |
| Fernando Ferrer | Baruch | New York City mayoral candidate in 2001 and 2005 | |
| Sidney Harman | 1939 | Baruch | founder and executive chairman of Harman Kardon |
| Marcia A. Karrow | Baruch | member of New Jersey General Assembly | |
| James Lam | 1983 | Baruch | author, risk management consultant |
| Ralph Lauren | Baruch | born Ralph Lifshitz; Chairman and CEO of Polo Ralph Lauren | |
| Dolly Lenz | Baruch | New York City real estate agent | |
| Dennis Levine | Baruch | prominent player in the Wall Street insider trading scandals of the mid-1980s | |
| Jennifer Lopez | Baruch | actress, singer, dancer | |
| Craig A. Stanley | Baruch | member of New Jersey General Assembly since 1996. | |
| Tarkan | Baruch | Turkish language singer | |
| Bella Abzug | 1942 | Hunter | born Bella Savitzky; feminist; political activist; U.S. Representative, 1971–1977 |
| Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick | 1963 | Hunter | first Hispanic woman named to the New York State Court of Appeals |
| Robert R. Davila | 1965 | Hunter | President of Gallaudet University and advocate for the rights of the hearing impaired |
| Ruby Dee | 1945 | Hunter | Emmy-nominated actress and civil rights activist |
| Martin Garbus | 1955 | Hunter | First amendment attorney |
| Florence Howe | 1950 | Hunter | founder of women's studies and founder/publisher of the Feminist Press/CUNY |
| Audre Lorde | 1959 | Hunter | African-American lesbian poet, essayist, educator and activist |
| Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou | 1991 | Hunter | Foreign Minister of Mauritania and professor of international history at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva |
| Soia Mentschikoff | 1934 | Hunter | first woman partner of a major law firm; first woman elected president of the Association of American Law Schools |
| Thomas J. Murphy, Jr. | 1973 | Hunter | three-term mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1994–2006 |
| Pauli Murray | 1933 | Hunter | first African-American woman named an Episcopal priest; human rights activist; lawyer and co-founder of N.O.W |
| Edward Thomas Brady | John Jay | , trial attorney and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina | |
| Jennings Michael Burch | John Jay | author of the 1984 best-selling memoir They Cage the Animals at Night | |
| Marcos Crespo | John Jay | , New York State Assemblyman representing district 85 | |
| Edward A. Flynn | John Jay | Chief of the Milwaukee Police Department | |
| Petri Hawkins-Byrd | 1989 | John Jay | Judge Judy bailiff |
| Henry Lee | 1972 | John Jay | forensic scientist and founder of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science |
| Miguel Martinez | John Jay | , member of the New York City Council representing the 10th District in upper Manhattan's Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill areas until his resignation on July 14, 2009 | |
| Eva Norvind | John Jay | , actor and director | |
| Pauley Perrette | John Jay | actor best known for her role as Abby Scuito on NCIS | |
| Ronald Rice | John Jay | New Jersey State Senator | |
| Ariel Rios | John Jay | undercover special agent for the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, killed in the line of duty | |
| Imette St. Guillen | John Jay | criminal justice graduate student murdered in February 2006. A scholarship was created in her name | |
| Scott Stringer | John Jay | Comptroller, Borough president of Manhattan, and member of the New York State Assembly | |
| Dorothy Uhnak | John Jay | , novelist and detective for the New York City Transit Police Department | |
| Bill Baird | 1955 | Brooklyn | reproductive rights activist and co-director of the Pro Choice League |
| Barbara Aronstein Black | 1953 | Brooklyn | Dean of Columbia Law School |
| Barbara Levy Boxer | 1962 | Brooklyn | anti-war activist, environmentalist, U.S. Representative, 1982–1993, and U.S. Senator |
| Mel Brooks | 1956 | Brooklyn | born Melvin Kaminsky; Academy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning director, writer, and actor |
| Shirley Chisholm | 1946 | Brooklyn | first African-American U.S. Congresswoman, 1968–1982. Candidate for U.S. President, 1972 |
| Bruce Chizen | 1978 | Brooklyn | President & CEO, Adobe Systems |
| Manuel F. Cohen | 1933 | Brooklyn | Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman |
| Paul Cohen | 1953 | Brooklyn | Fields Medal-winning mathematician |
| Stanley Cohen | 1943 | Brooklyn | biochemist and Nobel laureate, 1986 |
| Robert A. Daly | Brooklyn | CEO of Warner Bros. and Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Alan M. Dershowitz | 1959 | Brooklyn | Harvard Law School professor and author |
| Jerry Della Femina | 1957 | Brooklyn | Chairman & CEO, Della Femina, Jeary and Partners |
| Dan DiDio | 1983 | Brooklyn | comic book editor and executive for DC Comics |
| Benjamin Eisenstadt | 1954 | Brooklyn | creator of Sweet'N Low and founder of Cumberland Packing Corporation |
| Sandra Feldman | 1960 | Brooklyn | President, American Federation of Teachers |
| James Franco | Brooklyn | Golden Globe Award-winning actor | |
| Nikki Franke | 1972 | Brooklyn | Olympic foil fencer |
| Ralph Goldstein | Brooklyn | Olympic épée fencer | |
| Sterling Johnson Jr. | 1963 | Brooklyn | Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York |
| Gata Kamsky | 1999 | Brooklyn | chess grandmaster and five-time US chess champion |
| Saul Katz | 1960 | Brooklyn | President of the New York Mets |
| Edward R. Korman | 1963 | Brooklyn | Senior United States District Judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York |
| Marvin Kratter | 1937 | Brooklyn | owner of the Boston Celtics |
| Don Lemon | 1996 | Brooklyn | reporter, CNN |
| Leonard Lopate | 1967 | Brooklyn | host of the public radio talk show The Leonard Lopate Show, broadcast on WNYC |
| Michael Lynne | 1961 | Brooklyn | CEO of New Line Cinema |
| Marjorie Magner | 1969 | Brooklyn | Chairman of Gannett |
| Marty Markowitz | 1970 | Brooklyn | New York State Senator; Brooklyn Borough President |
| Paul Mazursky | 1951 | Brooklyn | film director, writer, producer; actor |
| Frank McCourt | 1967 | Brooklyn | Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis |
| Stanley Milgram | 1954 | Brooklyn | social psychologist |
| Jerry Moss | 1957 | Brooklyn | co-founder of A&M Records |
| Barry Munitz | 1963 | Brooklyn | Chancellor of California State University |
| Gloria Naylor | 1981 | Brooklyn | novelist; Winner National Book Award |
| Peter Nero | 1956 | Brooklyn | born Bernard Nierow; pianist and pops conductor; Grammy Award winner |
| Harvey Pitt | 1965 | Brooklyn | Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission |
| Rosemary S. Pooler | 1959 | Brooklyn | United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit |
| Jason K. Pulliam | 1995; 1997 | Brooklyn | United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas |
| Steve Riggio | 1974 | Brooklyn | CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc. |
| Barry Salzberg | 1974 | Brooklyn | CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu |
| Bernie Sanders | Brooklyn | US Senator representing Vermont | |
| Steve Schirripa | 1980 | Brooklyn | actor known for his role as Bobby Baccalieri on the HBO TV series The Sopranos |
| Irwin Shaw | 1934 | Brooklyn | born Irwin Shamforoff; O. Henry Award-winning author |
| Timothy Shortell | 1992 | Brooklyn | anti-Christian activist |
| Joel Harvey Slomsky | 1967 | Brooklyn | Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
| Jimmy Smits | 1980 | Brooklyn | Emmy Award-winning actor; NYPD Blue and L.A. Law |
| Maynard Solomon | 1950 | Brooklyn | co-founder of Vanguard Records |
| Lisa Staiano-Coico | 1976 | Brooklyn | President of City College of New York |
| Frank Tarloff | Brooklyn | Academy Award-winning screenwriter | |
| Benjamin Ward | 1960 | Brooklyn | first black New York City Police Commissioner, 1983–1989 |
| Iris Weinshall | 1975 | Brooklyn | Vice Chancellor at the City University of New York and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation |
| Jack B. Weinstein | 1943 | Brooklyn | Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York |
| Walter Yetnikoff | 1953 | Brooklyn | CEO of CBS Records |
| Philip Zimbardo | 1954 | Brooklyn | social psychologist |
| Joy Behar | 1964 | Queens | comedian, television personality |
| Jerry Colonna | Queens | venture capitalist and entrepreneur coach | |
| Joseph Crowley | Queens | member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1999–2019 | |
| Alan Hevesi | Queens | New York State Comptroller, New York State Assemblyman, Queens College professor | |
| Cheryl Lehman | 1975 | Queens | Professor of Accounting, Hofstra University |
| Ruth Madoff | Queens | wife of Bernard L. Madoff | |
| Helen Marshall | Queens | Queens Borough President | |
| Donna Orender | Queens | WNBA president | |
| Jerry Seinfeld | 1976 | Queens | actor and comedian |
| Charles Wang | Queens | founder of Computer Associates, owner of the New York Islanders | |
| Carl Andrews | Medgar Evers | New York State Senator | |
| Yvette Clarke | Medgar Evers | Congresswoman, member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 11th and 9th congressional districts |