Editing Hunter College (section)

==History==

===Founding===
[[File:Normal College of Women 801201.png|thumb|left|New York Normal College seen from Park Avenue (1874); drawing from a photo by [[George G. Rockwood]]]]
Hunter College originates from the 19th-century movement for [[Normal school|normal school training for teachers]] which swept across the United States. Hunter descends from the '''Female Normal and High School''', established in New York City in 1870. It was founded by Thomas Hunter from [[Ardglass]] in [[County Down]], who was an [[exile]] from Ireland because of his [[Irish nationalism|nationalist]] beliefs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Farr |first1=Mary |title=Thomas Hunter |journal=Lecale Review |date=2009 |volume=7}}</ref> The Normal School was one of several institutions occupying a site that the New York City government had reserved for "institutions serving a public purpose".<ref name=":0" /> Hunter was president of the school during the first 37 years. It was originally a [[Women's colleges in the United States|women's college]] for training teachers. The school, which was housed in an armory and saddle store at [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and East [[4th Street (Manhattan)|Fourth Street]] in [[Manhattan]], was open to all qualified women, irrespective of race, religion or ethnic background. At the time most women's colleges had racial or ethno-religious admissions criteria.

Created by the New York State Legislature, Hunter was deemed the only approved institution for those seeking to teach in New York City. The school incorporated an elementary and high school for [[gifted children]], where students practiced teaching. In 1887, a [[kindergarten]] was established as well. (Today, the [[Hunter College Elementary School|elementary school]] and the [[Hunter College High School|high school]] still exist at a different location, and are now called the Hunter College Campus Schools.)

[[File:Helen Campbell studying radio science at Hunter College LC-DIG-ggbain-24344.tif|thumb|Student Helen Campbell studying radio science in a program started at Hunter College in 1917 by the [[National League for Women's Service]] to train female radio operators during [[World War I]].]]

During Thomas Hunter's tenure as president of the school, Hunter became known for its impartiality regarding race, religion, ethnicity, financial or political favoritism; its pursuit of higher education for women; its high entry requirements; and its rigorous academics. The first female professor at the school, [[Helen Gray Cone]], was elected to the position in 1899.<ref>{{cite news|title=Young Women Graduated|date=June 23, 1899|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The college's student population quickly expanded, and the college subsequently moved uptown, in 1873, into a new red brick [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] structure facing Park Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=February 29, 2004 |title=Streetscapes/Hunter College on 68th Street and Park Avenue; Industrial-Style Main Building Raised Storm in 1940 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/realestate/streetscapes-hunter-college-68th-street-park-avenue-industrial-style-main.html |access-date=March 20, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> It was one of several public institutions built at the time on a [[Lenox Hill]] lot that had been set aside by the city for a park, before the creation of [[Central Park]].<ref>{{cite web |date=February 4, 1912 |title=Types of Artistic Manhattan Residences Predominate in Old Yorkville District |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/02/04/archives/article-19-no-title.html |access-date=March 20, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> After the park in Lenox Hill was canceled, the plots were leased to institutions like Hunter College.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=October 12, 2012 |title=Seventh Regiment Armory/Streetscapes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/realestate/seventh-regiment-armory-streetscapes-a-battle-ax-gets-a-face-lift.html |access-date=March 20, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1888, the school was incorporated as a college under the statutes of New York State, taking on the name '''Normal College of the City of New York''', with the power to confer [[Bachelor of Arts]] degrees. This led to the separation of the school into two "camps": the "Normals", who pursued a four-year course of study to become licensed teachers, and the "Academics", who sought non-teaching professions and the Bachelor of Arts degree. After 1902 when the "Normal" course of study was abolished, the "Academic" course became standard across the student body.

===Expansion===
In 1913 the east end of the building, housing the elementary school, was replaced by Thomas Hunter Hall, a new limestone [[Tudor architecture|Tudor]] building facing [[Lexington Avenue]] and designed by [[C. B. J. Snyder]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=2008-04-20 |title=The Vestige of What Might Have Been |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/realestate/20scap.html |access-date=2024-02-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The following year the Normal College became Hunter College in honor of its first president. At the same time, the college was experiencing a period of great expansion as increasing student enrollments necessitated more space. The college reacted by establishing branches in the boroughs of [[Brooklyn]], [[Queens]], and [[Staten Island]]. By 1920, Hunter College had the largest enrollment of women of any municipally financed college in the United States. In 1930, Hunter's Brooklyn campus merged with [[City College of New York|City College]]'s Brooklyn campus, and the two were spun off to form [[Brooklyn College]].

[[File:Hunter College NY WAVES camp opening 1943.JPG|thumb|left|Opening of the [[United States Navy|Navy]] recruit camp for [[Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service|WAVES]] at Bronx Campus, February 8, 1943]]

In February 1936 a fire destroyed the 1873 Gothic building facing Park Avenue.<ref>{{cite news |date=1936-02-14 |title=FIRE SWEEPS UNIT OF HUNTER COLLEGE; Destroys Large Part of Original Building at Park Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street. WATCHMAN GIVES ALARM Traffic Is Diverted by Night Blaze, Which Attracts Crowds of Spectators. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/02/14/archives/fire-sweeps-unit-of-hunter-college-destroys-large-part-of-original.html?searchResultPosition=3 |access-date=2024-03-26 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Plans for a new building were announced in 1937,<ref>{{cite news |date=1937-10-16 |title=HUNTER BUILDING TO RISE 16 STORIES; Preliminary Plans Submitted for Structure to Replace One Razed by Fire 'LITTLE THEATRE' IN IT Auditorium to Seat 2,500 Also Included in Set-Up of the New College Will Face Sixty-ninth Street Space for Laboratories |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/16/archives/hunter-building-to-rise-16-stories-preliminary-plans-submitted-for.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=2024-03-26 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> and by 1940 the [[Public Works Administration]] replaced it with the [[Modern architecture|Modernist]] north building, designed by [[Shreve, Lamb & Harmon]] along with [[Harrison & Abramovitz|Harrison & Fouilhoux]].<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/north-building-hunter-college-new-york-ny/|title=Hunter College: North Building - New York NY|accessdate=July 1, 2023}}</ref>

The late 1930s saw the construction of Hunter College in the Bronx (later known as the Bronx Campus). During the [[Second World War]], Hunter leased the Bronx Campus buildings to the [[United States Navy]] who used the facilities to train 95,000 women volunteers for military service as [[WAVES]] and [[SPARS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003129-00/sec4.htm |title=Free A Marine to Fight: Women Marines in World War II (Early Training: Holyoke and Hunter) |access-date=June 29, 2014}}</ref> When the Navy vacated the campus, the site was briefly occupied by the nascent United Nations, which held its first Security Council sessions at the Bronx Campus in 1946, giving the school an international profile.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/programs/grad/187.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830080929/http://www.lehman.edu/lehman/programs/grad/187.htm|url-status=dead|title=History of Lehman College|archive-date=August 30, 2010}}</ref>

In 1943, [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] dedicated a town house at [[Sara Delano Roosevelt Memorial House|47–49 East 65th Street]] in Manhattan to the college. The house had been a home for Eleanor and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] prior to the latter's presidency.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=2003-03-18 |title=Fixing Monument To Mother-in-Law; Sara Delano Roosevelt Ruled Home of Franklin and Eleanor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/nyregion/fixing-monument-mother-law-sara-delano-roosevelt-ruled-home-franklin-eleanor.html |access-date=2024-03-26 | newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> The [[Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College]] opened at that location in fall 2010 as an academic center hosting prominent speakers.

===CUNY era===

[[File:West Building Hunter College CUNY.jpg|thumb|right|The West (seen here in the background) and East Buildings were constructed in 1981–86 – following a delay due to the [[1975 New York City fiscal crisis]] – and were designed in the [[Modernist architecture|Modernist style]] by [[Ulrich Franzen]] & Associates; skyways connect all the buildings]]
Hunter became the [[Women's colleges in the United States|women's college]] of the municipal system, and in the 1950s, when [[City College of New York|City College]] became coeducational, Hunter started admitting men to its [[Bronx]] campus. In 1964, the [[Manhattan]] campus began admitting men also.<ref>[https://library.hunter.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/documents/archives/finding_aids/Selected_History_of_Hunter_College_Collection.pdf#page=4 https://library.hunter.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/documents/archives/finding_aids/Selected_History_of_Hunter_College_Collection.pdf]</ref> The Bronx campus subsequently became [[Lehman College]] in 1968.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1968-07-02 |title=Hunter's Bronx Unit Now Lehman College |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/07/02/archives/hunters-bronx-unit-now-lehman-college.html |access-date=2024-05-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1968–1969, Black and Puerto Rican students struggled to get a department that would teach about their history and experience. These and supportive students and faculty expressed this demand through building take-overs, rallies, etc. In Spring 1969, Hunter College established Black and Puerto Rican Studies (now called Africana/Puerto Rican and Latino Studies). An "[[open admissions]]" policy initiated in 1970 by the City University of New York opened the school's doors to historically underrepresented groups by guaranteeing a college education to any and all who graduated from NYC high schools. Many African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Puerto Ricans, and students from the developing world made their presence felt at Hunter, and even after the end of "open admissions" still comprise a large part of the school's student body. As a result of this increase in enrollment, Hunter opened new buildings on Lexington Avenue during the early 1980s. In further advancing Puerto Rican studies, Hunter became home to the [[Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños]] ("Center for Puerto Rican Studies" or simply "Centro") in 1982.

In 2006, Hunter became home to the [[Bella Abzug]] Leadership Institute, which has training programs for young women to build their leadership, public speaking, business and advocacy skills.