Editing Columbia University (section)

===Morningside Heights===
[[File:Columbia College Walk.jpg|thumb|College Walk]]
The majority of Columbia's graduate and undergraduate studies are conducted in the [[Upper Manhattan]] neighborhood of [[Morningside Heights, Manhattan|Morningside Heights]] on [[Seth Low]]'s late-19th century vision of a university campus where all disciplines could be taught at one location. The campus was designed along [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] planning principles by the architects [[McKim, Mead & White]]. Columbia's main campus occupies more than six [[city block]]s, or {{convert|32|acres|abbr=on}}, in Morningside Heights, New York City, a neighborhood that contains a number of academic institutions. The university owns over 7,800 apartments in Morningside Heights, housing faculty, graduate students, and staff. Almost two dozen undergraduate dormitories (purpose-built or converted) are located on campus or in Morningside Heights. Columbia University has [[Columbia University tunnels|an extensive tunnel system]], more than a century old, with the oldest portions predating the present campus. Some of these remain accessible to the public, while others have been cordoned off.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Unearthing the Underground|url=http://features.columbiaspectator.com/eye/2016/04/13/unearthing-the-underground/|access-date=May 5, 2021|website=Columbia Spectator|language=en-US|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505231254/http://features.columbiaspectator.com/eye/2016/04/13/unearthing-the-underground/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Butler_Library_-_1000px_-_AC.jpg|thumb|[[Butler Library]]]]
[[Butler Library]] is the largest in the [[Columbia University Libraries]] system and one of the largest buildings on the campus. It was completed in 1934 and renamed to Butler Library in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|title=Butler Library: Self-Guided Tour|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/img/assets/5295/SelfGuided.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060922032835/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/img/assets/5295/SelfGuided.pdf |archive-date=September 22, 2006 |url-status=live|access-date=April 11, 2011|publisher=Columbia University}}</ref> {{As of|2020}}, [[Columbia University Library System|Columbia's library system]] includes over 15.0 million volumes, making it the eighth largest library system and fifth largest collegiate library system in the United States.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Mian |first1=Anam |url=https://publications.arl.org/ARL-Statistics-2018-2019/ |title=ARL Statistics 2018–2019 |last2=Roebuck |first2=Gary |publisher=[[Association of Research Libraries]] |year=2020 |location=Washington, DC |pages=45 |access-date=July 30, 2021 |archive-date=July 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729235011/https://publications.arl.org/ARL-Statistics-2018-2019/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Several buildings on the Morningside Heights campus are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. [[Low Memorial Library]], a [[National Historic Landmark]] and the centerpiece of the campus, is listed for its architectural significance. [[Philosophy Hall]] is listed as the site of the invention of [[FM radio]].<ref>Robert D. Colburn (July 2002) {{NHLS url|id=03001046|title=National Historic Landmark Nomination: Philosophy Hall}}, National Park Service and {{NHLS url|id=03001046|title=''Accompanying 13 photos, exterior and interior, from c.1922–2001''|photos=y}}</ref> Also listed is [[Pupin Hall]], another [[National Historic Landmark]], which houses the physics and astronomy departments. Here the first experiments on the fission of uranium were conducted by [[Enrico Fermi]]. The uranium atom was split there ten days after the world's first atom-splitting in [[Copenhagen]], Denmark.<ref>{{cite web|author=Carolyn Pitts|year=1987|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Low Memorial Library, Columbia|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/87002599_text|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 4, 2016|archive-date=December 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225232646/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/87002599_text|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|year=1983|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University—Accompanying photos|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000550_photos|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=March 4, 2016|archive-date=December 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225232651/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000550_photos|url-status=live}}</ref> Other buildings listed include [[Casa Italiana]], the [[Delta Psi, Alpha Chapter building]] of [[St. Anthony Hall]], [[Earl Hall]], and the buildings of the affiliated [[Union Theological Seminary (New York City)|Union Theological Seminary]].<ref name="nycland">{{cite nycland|page=195}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (3/2/1934–)|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319443|title=New York SP Delta Psi, Alpha Chapter|date=1996|series=File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, 1964 – 2013|access-date=May 5, 2021|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505231252/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319443|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Earl Hall at Columbia University Listed on National Register of Historic Places|url=https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/2018/03/14/earl-hall-at-columbia-university-listed-on-national-register-of-historic-places/|access-date=May 5, 2021|website=NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project|language=en-US|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505194741/https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/2018/03/14/earl-hall-at-columbia-university-listed-on-national-register-of-historic-places/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Department of the Interior. National Park Service.|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320012|title=New York SP Union Theological Seminary|date=1980|series=File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, 1964 – 2013|access-date=June 11, 2021|archive-date=June 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611054131/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Union_Theological_Seminary_NYC_001_002_combined.jpg|thumb|[[Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York|Union Theological Seminary]]]]
A statue by sculptor [[Daniel Chester French]] called ''[[Alma Mater (New York sculpture)|Alma Mater]]'' is centered on the front steps of [[Low Memorial Library]]. The statue represents a personification of the traditional image of the university as an ''[[alma mater]]'', or "nourishing mother", draped in an academic gown and seated on a throne. She wears a [[laurel wreath]] on her head and holds in her right hand a scepter capped by a King's Crown, a traditional symbol of the university. A book, representing learning, rests on her lap. The arms of her throne end in lamps, representing "Sapientia et Doctrina", or "Wisdom and Learning"; on the back of the throne is embossed an image of [[Heraldry of Columbia University|the seal of the university]].<ref name=":52">{{Cite book |last=Durante |first=Dianne L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QcwVCgAAQBAJ&q=alma+mater+statue+columbia |title=Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide |date=February 2007 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-1987-9 |language=en |access-date=September 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928170910/https://books.google.com/books?id=QcwVCgAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&dq=alma+mater+statue+columbia&hl=en |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture|title=Alma Mater (sculpture)|url=http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=all&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!20526~!0#focus|access-date=April 14, 2011|publisher=The Smithsonian Institution|archive-date=November 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122051823/https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=all&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!20526~!0#focus|url-status=live}}</ref> The small hidden owl on the sculpture is also the subject of many Columbia legends, the main legend being that the first student in the freshmen class to find the hidden owl on the statue will be valedictorian, and that any subsequent Columbia male who finds it will marry a Barnard student, given that Barnard is a [[women's college]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Meredith Foster|date=February 11, 2011|title=The Myth of the College Sweetheart|url=http://eye.columbiaspectator.com/article/2011/02/10/myth-college-sweetheart|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307091227/http://eye.columbiaspectator.com/article/2011/02/10/myth-college-sweetheart|archive-date=March 7, 2011|access-date=April 14, 2011|work=The Eye|publisher=Columbia Spectator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=May 19, 1999|title=What Is the Mace? A Guide to Columbia's Icons|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/newrec/2423/tmpl/story.4.html|access-date=April 16, 2011|publisher=Columbia University Record|archive-date=December 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216021347/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/newrec/2423/tmpl/story.4.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 

"The Steps", alternatively known as "Low Steps" or the "Urban Beach", are a popular meeting area for Columbia students. The term refers to the long series of granite steps leading from the lower part of campus (South Field) to its upper terrace.<ref>{{cite web|author=Richard P. Dober|title=The Steps at Low Library|url=http://dlmplanners.org/notes/pdf/The%20Steps%20at%20Low%20Library.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814190951/http://dlmplanners.org/notes/pdf/The%20Steps%20at%20Low%20Library.pdf|archive-date=August 14, 2011|access-date=April 11, 2011|publisher=Dober, Lidsky, Craig and Associates, Inc.}}</ref>
{{wide image|Columbia pano.jpg|1200px|Panoramic view of the Morningside Heights campus as seen from [[Butler Library]] and facing [[Low Memorial Library]]}}