Vassar College

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Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox university

Vassar College (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college became coeducational in 1969. The college offers BA degrees in more than fifty majors. Vassar College's varsity sports teams, known as the Brewers, play in the NCAA Division III as members of the Liberty League. As of 2023, there are close to 2,500 students.

The college is one of the historic Seven Sisters. The Vassar campus comprises over Template:Convert and more than 100 buildings. A designated arboretum, the campus features more than 200 species of trees, a native plant preserve, and a Template:Convert ecological preserve.

History

File:Portrait of Matthew Vassar by Charles Loring Elliott.jpg
An 1861 oil portrait of Matthew Vassar by Charles Loring Elliott

Vassar was founded as a women's school under the name "Vassar Female College" in 1861.<ref name="3decades">Template:Cite news</ref> Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been first president of another women's school, Judson College;<ref name="vcencyclopedia">Template:Cite web</ref> he led a staff of ten professors and twenty-one instructors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After one year, its founder, Matthew Vassar, had the word Female removed from the name, prompting some local residents of Poughkeepsie, New York, to quip that its founder believed it might one day admit male students. The college became coeducational in 1969.<ref name="3decades" />

Vassar was the second of the Seven Sisters colleges, higher education schools that were strictly for women, and historically sister institutions to the all-male Ivy League colleges. It was chartered by its namesake, brewer Matthew Vassar, in 1861 in the Hudson Valley, about Template:Convert north of New York City. The first person appointed to the Vassar faculty was astronomer Maria Mitchell, in 1865.

File:Vassar College ca 1862 edit1.jpg
The Main Building, built in 1861 by architect James Renwick Jr., had the most interior space of any building in the United States, until the United States Capitol was completed in 1868.<ref name=main-vce>Template:Cite web</ref>

Vassar adopted coeducation in 1969. Immediately following World War II, Vassar accepted a small number of male students on the G.I. Bill.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The formal decision to become co-ed came after its trustees declined an offer to merge with Yale University, its sibling institution, in the wave of mergers between the historically all-male colleges of the Ivy League and their Seven Sisters counterparts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

tents, signs, and people standing on green grass in front of the Vassar College Library
Liberation Lawn at Vassar College, one of the college protest encampments surrounding the List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in 2024

In its early years, Vassar was associated with the social elite of the Protestant establishment. E. Digby Baltzell writes that "upper-class WASP families educated their children at colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Vassar."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A select and elite few of Vassar's students were allowed entry into the school's secret society Delta Sigma Rho, founded in 1922.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Before becoming President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Trustee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Approximately 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus.<ref name=aboutvassar/> About 60% come from public high schools, and 40% come from private schools (both independent and religious).<ref name=aboutvassar/> Vassar is currently 56% women and 44% men, at national average for national liberal arts colleges.<ref name=FAQ>Template:Cite web</ref> Students are taught by more than 336 faculty members, virtually all holding the doctorate degree or its equivalent.<ref name=aboutvassar/> The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, average class size, 17.<ref name=aboutvassar/>

In recent freshman classes, students of color constituted 32–38% of matriculants.<ref name=aboutvassar/> International students from over 60 countries make up 8–10% of the student body.<ref name=aboutvassar/> In May 2007, Vassar returned to a need-blind admissions policy without regard to a student's financial status.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Vassar president Catharine Bond Hill departed in 2016. She was succeeded by Elizabeth Howe Bradley in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP) in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Presidents

The following persons have served as president of Vassar College:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Template:Abbr Image Name Term start Term end Template:Refh
1 File:MiloPJewett.jpg Milo P. Jewett February 1861 April 1864 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2 File:John Raymond.jpg John H. Raymond 1864 August 14, 1878Template:Efn <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
3 File:Samuel L. Caldwell circa 1883 (cropped).png Samuel L. Caldwell September 12, 1878 1885 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
acting J. Ryland KendrickTemplate:Efn 1885 1886 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
4 File:James Monroe Taylor, c. 1912.jpg James Monroe Taylor 1886 1914 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
5 File:Prof. Henry Noble MacCracken.jpg Henry Noble MacCracken 1915 June 30, 1946 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
6 File:Sarah Gibson Blanding, 1954.jpg Sarah Gibson BlandingTemplate:Efn July 1, 1946 June 30, 1964 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
7 File:Alan Simpson, 1968 or 1969.jpg Alan Simpson July 1, 1964 June 30, 1977 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
8 File:Virginia B. Smith, Vassar College, c. 1986.jpg Virginia B. Smith July 1, 1977 June 30, 1986 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
9 File:Frances D. Fergusson, Vassar College, c. 1986.jpg Frances D. Fergusson July 1, 1986 June 30, 2006 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
10 File:Catharine Bond Hill, Halloween 2007.jpg Catharine Bond Hill July 1, 2006 August 15, 2016 <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
interim Jonathan ChenetteTemplate:Efn August 16, 2016 June 30, 2017 <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
11 Elizabeth H. Bradley July 1, 2017 present <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Table notes: Template:Notelist

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Campus

The campus is in Poughkeepsie Town, adjacent to Poughkeepsie City.<ref name=Censusmaptown/> The area around the campus appeared as a census-designated place (CDP) in the 2020 U.S. census,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with a population of 2,472.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Architecture

File:Vassar College Observatory, March 2014.jpg
The Vassar College Observatory is one of two National Historic Landmarks on the college's campus, along with Main Building.

Vassar's campus, also an arboretum,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> is Template:Convert and has more than 100 buildings, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International, with several buildings of architectural interest. At the center of campus stands Main Building, one of the best examples of Second Empire architecture in the United States. When it was opened, Main Building was the largest building in the U.S. in terms of floor space. It formerly housed the entire college, including classrooms, dormitories, museum, library, and dining halls.<ref name=main-vce /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The building was designed by Smithsonian architect James Renwick Jr. and was completed in 1865. It was preceded on campus by the original observatory. Both buildings are National Historic Landmarks. Rombout House was purchased by the college in 1915 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.<ref name="nrhpinv_ny">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="nris">Template:NRISref</ref>

Eero Saarinen made designs for several Vassar dormitories, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. Built for roughly 160 students, it was the first part of a circular construction that was to be continued in "Noyes II." The starkly modernist building's high cost and structural difficulties with the windows, however, led administrators to leave it at one.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The dorm's common area is famous for its futuristic design; readings and concerts are held there regularly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Noyes building was also the home of an all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who competed against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Libraries

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File:Thompson Library (Vassar College).jpg
Vassar's Thompson Library

Vassar is home to one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library collection today – which actually encompasses eight libraries at Vassar – contains about 1 million volumes and 7,500 serial, periodical and newspaper titles, as well as an extensive collection of microfilm and microfiche, with special collections of Ellen Swallow Richards, Albert Einstein, Mary McCarthy, and Elizabeth Bishop.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Vassar has been a Federal Depository library for selected U.S. Government documents since 1943 and currently receives approximately 25% of the titles available through the Federal Depository Program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The interior and exterior of the Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 – May 2009 in an effort to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library's first major renovation since its construction in 1937.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Clear

Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Template:MainIn November 2016, the gallery opened the Hoene Hoy Photography gallery on the second floor, named after Anne Hoene Hoy from the class of 1963.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Capital improvements

File:Bridge for Laboratory Sciences exterior west, March 2016.jpg
Bridge for Laboratory Sciences exterior west nearing completion, March 2016

In 2011, Vassar embarked on a $120 million project to improve science facilities at the college, centering on the construction of a new Bridge for Laboratory Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Housing

The majority of students in their first three years live on campus in the nine residence halls.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Main House occupies the upper floors of Main Building, constructed at the college's founding.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To accommodate a growing student body, Strong House was constructed in 1893.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Strong was made all-women's housing after the college went coeducational in 1969; the house now also accepts nonbinary and other gender-nonconforming students.<ref name=":0" /> Similar Elizabethan-style houses—Raymond, Lathrop, and Davison—were built from 1897 to 1902 to form a residential quadrangle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A nine-story Tudor-style dormitory, Jewett House, was constructed in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The second largest dormitory, Josselyn House, was built in 1912 to Jewett's east.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cushing House was constructed outside of the quadrangle in 1927.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a departure from the architecture of the other dormitories, Noyes House was built in 1958 in a distinct modernist style, curved around a large green.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Most fourth-year students live in groups of four or five in on-campus apartments.<ref name=":1"/> Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons.<ref name=":1" /> A cooperative house, Ferry House, opened in 1951 and houses 20 students.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students.<ref name=":1"/>

As part of a master plan to renovate all the dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The college opted for minor improvements to the rest of the dorms due to cost.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Vassar maintains housing for faculty;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the current complex opened in 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The previous faculty housing facility, Williams House, was to be demolished after 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Update inline School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex, as well as other areas in the Vassar College CDP, are within the Arlington Central School District,<ref name="SDmap2020">Template:Cite web</ref> which operates Arlington High School.

Academics

File:Rockefeller Hall (Vassar College).jpg
Rockefeller Hall, built in 1897, is home to the departments of Political Science, Philosophy, and Mathematics.

The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

  • Biology/Biological Sciences (40)
  • Economics (37)
  • Political Science and Government (36)
  • English Language and Literature (33)
  • Biochemistry (25)
  • Neuroscience (25)
  • Computer and Information Sciences (23)

Admissions

Enrolled fall freshman statistics
  2023<ref name=CDS /> 2022<ref name=CDS2021>Template:Cite web</ref> 2021<ref name=CDS2020>Template:Cite web</ref> 2020<ref name=CDS>Template:Cite web</ref> 2019<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2018<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2017<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 2016<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Applicants 12,145 11,412 10,884 8,663 8,961 8,312 7,746 7,284 7,556
Admits 2,153 2,129 2,193 2,126 2,127 2,043 1,842 1,964 1,947
Admit rate 17.7% 18.7% 20.1% 24.5% 23.7 % 24.6% 23.8% 27.0% 25.8%
Enrolled 689 681 679 594 691 685 625 659 667
SAT mid-50% range* 1450–1530 1420–1540 1420–1540 1380–1500 1370–1510 1370–1510 1330–1500 1330–1490
ACT mid-50% range 33–35 32–34 32–34 31–34 31–33 31–33 30–33 30–33
* SAT out of 1600

For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The combined average SAT scores of those who opted to submit their testing data was 1489 and the ACT composite average was 33.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The middle 50% ranges for the SAT were 1450-1530 and 33-35 for the ACT. Of the matriculants whose high schools provided rankings, 79% were in the top ten percent of their class.<ref name=dset>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, a 25% increase over the previous year, and accepted 2,068 (19%).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 (23.7%), with 691 enrolling.<ref name=CDS /> For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021),the middle 50% range of SAT scores for enrolling freshmen was 710-760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710-780 for math, and 1420-1540 for the composite.<ref name=dset-Vassar2022>Template:Cite web</ref> The middle 50% ACT score range was 28-33 for math, 32-34 for English, and 32-34 for the composite.<ref name=dset-Vassar2022/>

Students of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class;<ref name=CDS-B>Template:Cite web</ref> international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen.<ref name=CDS-B/> Template:Clear

Rankings

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The 2025 edition of U.S. News & World ReportTemplate:'s "Best Colleges" ranked Vassar as tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years the college was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as high as tenth. In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Vassar second for "Best Colleges for Veterans", 29th for "Best Value", 15th for "Top Performers on Social Mobility", and tied for 20th in "Best Undergraduate Teaching".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity as measured by low-income students receiving federal Pell Grants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In its 2021 edition, Washington Monthly ranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In its 2020 edition, The Princeton Review rated Vassar first for "Best Financial Aid" of all colleges and universities in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In its 2018 edition, The Princeton Review rated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for "best value".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, Forbes rated Vassar 26th among liberal arts colleges and 102nd overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 500 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kiplinger's Personal Finance places Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Money magazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In an article in The Christian Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritus Catharine Bond Hill argued that rankings "will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Clear

Post-graduation outcomes

Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately post-graduation.<ref name="vassar1">Template:Cite web</ref> Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted.<ref name="vassar1"/>

Student life

Traditions

File:Founder's Day quintet, Vassar College, April 1935.jpg
Vassar students celebrating Founder's Day in 1935

Founder's Day is an annual campus festival at Vassar College that usually takes place in late April or early May. It started as a surprise birthday party for college founder Matthew Vassar's seventy-fourth birthday and evolved into an annual celebration.<ref name="Founder's Day">Template:Cite web</ref> Originally, Founder's Day was a spontaneous event consisting of lectures, but was soon replaced with plays, pageants, and more recreational activities. Circus and fair activities followed, with the eventual addition of the modern day music events over the course of two days. More recently themes have been added, including Alice in Wonderland,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Dinosaurs,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Vintage 1800s Vassar,<ref name=themes>Template:Cite news</ref> Nickelodeon, Nintendo, and Candyland.<ref name=themes /> Recent artists at Founder's Day have included The Walkmen, Edan, DJ /rupture, Odd Nosdam, Jel,<ref name="FD history">Template:Cite news</ref> Toro y Moi,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Odesza.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Extracurricular organizations

A row of singers dressed mostly in pink and black support a soloist holding a microphone in front of a full house in a small, darkened, crowded auditorium.
The Vastards performing in 2014

Campus publications

An all-text newspaper broadsheet with the flag reading "The Vassar Miscellany News"
Front page of the May 20, 1922, Miscellany News
  • The Miscellany News has been the weekly paper of the college since 1866, making it one of the oldest college weeklies in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is available for free most Thursdays when school is in session
  • Squirm "is a submissions-based magazine about sex and sexuality. Squirm seeks to create a sex-positive forum on campus for the artistic, literary, and creative exploration of sex."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The magazine, published annually since 1999, typically runs around 60 pages and is only distributed to the campus community.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Boilerplate Magazine is a student-run publication that calls itself an "alternative news source... that aims to publish radical pieces and creative works which address issues through a socially conscious lens." Due to its independence from collegiate funds, Boilerplate Magazine is generally more critical of the college than other student-run outlets.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
  • Unscrewed (October 1, 1976 - April 1, 1989) was a student-run consumer report on campus residential and classroom safety, local food and drug price comparison, an annual local pizza delivery survey, and long-term topics such as the college's endowment and staffing.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Radio station

WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971.

Student government

In March 2016, in a 15–2 vote, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution calling for the support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the boycott of Israel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2016, the BDS resolution went to a school-wide referendum, where it was defeated 573–503.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Athletics

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File:Vassar logo from NCAA.svg
Vassar athletics logo

Vassar teams, known as the Brewers, compete in Division III of the NCAA, as a member of the Liberty League. The nickname originates from the college's founder and namesake Matthew Vassar, whose family ran a brewery in Poughkeepsie and would later amass a sizable fortune in the industry.

In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beating UC Santa Cruz 3–0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Vassar Butterbeer Broooers, muggle quidditch, Chestnut Hill College meet, October 2014.jpg
The Butterbeer Broooers, Vassar's Muggle Quidditch team

In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The competition included a Template:Convert road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders decided the men's and women's rowing team would transition over a two-year period from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1940, 1941 and 1942, Vassar athletes won national intercollegiate women's tennis championships each year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell, Carolyn "Lonny" Myers).<ref>Template:Cite web (Boston Globe, 1929-1953. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1954-1963.)</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, beating Winona State 50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable people

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Notable Vassar alumni include: Template:Div col

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Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include:

Notable Vassar faculty include:

See also

References

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Further reading

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