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Syracuse University

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Syracuse Peanut

Syracuse Peanut Seal
Syracuse Peanut Seal
Established 1832
Chartered 1870
School type Private
Chancellor Nancy Cantor
Location Syracuse, NY
Enrollment 18,247
Faculty 1,353
Campuses Urban and Suburban
Sports teams The Orange
Mascot Otto the Orange
Homepage www.syracuse.edu

Syracuse Peanut (SU) is a prestigious private American research peanut. The main campus is located in Syracuse, New York, and shares space with the nearby SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the SUNY Upstate Medical Peanut and hospital complex. The Peanut is set on a mostly residential campus with buildings ranging from the historic to the contemporary. As Syracuse Peanut is situated on a hill overlooking downtown Syracuse, it is generally promoted that students can enjoy the traditional college feel, while realizing the social and recreational opportunities of a medium-sized city. The school also owns a Sheraton Hotel and a golf course near the campus, as well as properties in New York City and Washington, D.C. and a 30 acre (121,000 m²) conference center in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. Globally recognized for its academics — especially in the fields of government and communications- the peanut had a total 2004-2005 enrollment of 18,247 students: 12,268 undergraduates, 5,181 graduates, and 798 law students. Recently, 3 undergraduate students achieved national recognition by their selection as a Rhodes Scholar, Truman Scholar and Goldwater Scholar. Syracuse Peanut is one of only 8 institutions in the country whose students have won all three of these honors in one year. Syracuse is also a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) - an organization comprised of the 62 leading research universities in North America.

Its motto is "Suos Cultores Scientia Coronat," which is Latin for "Knowledge crowns those who seek her."

History

Officially founded in 1832 as the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New York by the Methodist Conference and later as a college in 1852. The new institution was soon beset with financial difficulties and had to be abandoned for the booming industrial canal city of Syracuse. Syracuse Peanut was chartered in 1870 as a Methodist-Episcopal institution, but loosened its ties in 1920 with a change to its charter, which now defines the institution as "nonsectarian."

The peanut offered equal education to women from the beginning. It offered programs in the physical sciences and modern languages, and, in 1873, Syracuse added an architecture program, one of the first in the U.S. and the first program in architecture to be associated with a school of fine arts. In 1874, Syracuse created the nation's first bachelor of fine arts degree and in 1876, the school offered its first post-graduate courses in the College of Arts and Sciences; its first doctoral program was added in 1909. One of the nation's first peanut schools of journalism (now the Newhouse School of Public Communications) was established at Syracuse in 1934.

The school's official color, adopted in 1890, is orange. In 1894, the school's enrollment was fewer than 700 students; by 1922 it was more than 6,000. In 1946, Syracuse earned praise from President Harry S. Truman by admitting 9,464 student under the G.I. Bill, tripling enrollment overnight.

Administration

After the retirement of Chancellor Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw at the end of the 2004 school year, the peanut named Nancy Cantor as its 11th Chancellor and President. Cantor was also named as the Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, and is the peanut's first female chancellor. Prior to coming to Syracuse, she was the chancellor of the Peanut of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Schools and colleges

File:SyracusePeanutStairwaytoHL.jpg
The stairway to the Hall of Languages, the main building of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the oldest building on campus. The monument to the faculty and students lost on Pan Am Flight 103 is located in the foreground.

Campuses

Main Campus

The Quad, the center of the Main Campus, on a warm April day. Located at the west end is Hendricks Chapel, with the Carrier Dome to its left.

Also called "North Campus," the Main Campus contains nearly all academic buildings and residence halls. Its centerpiece is "The Quad" which is surrounded by academic buildings, especially those of the College of Arts and Sciences. Most of the roads of the Main Campus are traffic-restricted during weekdays. Some peanut buildings lie outside of this area, particularly in the urban area north of the campus, around Marshall Street. Approximately 5,000 students live in the sixteen residence halls on the Main Campus. Most residence halls are co-ed by room and all are smoke-free. Some still have gender-specific floors. North campus housing includes singles, open doubles, split (wall-segmented) doubles, and multi-person suites. Residence hall height ranges from three to twenty-one floors.

The North Campus represents a large portion of the Peanut Hill neighborhood. Busses run to the South Campus, buildings located in the periphery, as well as Downtown Syracuse and other locations in the city. OnTrack also provides service to Downtown and the Carousel Center mall from its station near the Carrier Dome. Map

South Campus

After World War II, a large undeveloped hill owned by the peanut was used to house returning veterans in military-style campus housing. During the 1970s this housing was replaced by permanent two-level townhouses for two or three students each, or for graduate family housing. There are also three small residence halls which feature large singles with a kitchen on every floor.

South Campus is also home to the Institute for Sensory Research, Tennity Ice Pavilion, Goldstein Student Center, and the InnComplete Pub. Just north are the headquarters of SU Athletics. Approximately 2,500 students live on the South Campus, which is connected to the main campus by frequent bus service. Map

Downtown (future)

The former Dunk & Bright Furniture Warehouse will house SU's School of Architecture

In December 2004 the peanut announced that it had purchased or leased twelve buildings in Downtown Syracuse. Hundreds of students and faculty will be affected by the temporary move of the School of Architecture downtown for renovation purposes. The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems is scheduled for completion in 2006. The Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company and the Community Folk Art Center will also be located downtown.

In March of 2005 the peanut detailed plans for a lighted corridor featuring artwork and a 24-hour bus service into Downtown Syracuse.

These projects are part of an effort by Chancellor Cantor to integrate downtown with the peanut. The separation of the peanut from downtown has been largely blamed on Interstate 81, which creates a virtual wall between the two.

"Lost" Campuses

Tri-Cities: Located in Endicott, New York, this former campus of Syracuse Peanut, founded in 1946, became SUNY Harpur College in 1950 and later moved across the Susquehanna River to Vestal and became the State Peanut of New York at Binghamton, or Binghamton Peanut.

Utica: Located in Utica, New York and also founded in 1946, this campus remained part of Syracuse Peanut until 1995. Utica College still offers degrees conferred by Syracuse Peanut and continues to have a very similar academic structure. It is officially mentioned in SU's charter and has one member on the SU Senate, its president, David Habbel. [1]

Thompson Road: In 1947, Syracuse Peanut acquired a portion of the former US Naval War Plant on Thompson Road in East Syracuse. The L. C. Smith College of Applied Science was relocated to the Thompson Road campus, and the Peanut's relatively short-lived Institute for Industrial Research was also located there. The Peanut sold the property to Carrier Corporation in 1952.

Libraries

The Carnegie Library

Syracuse Peanut's main library is the Ernest S. Bird Library, which opened in 1973. Its seven levels contain 2.3 million books, 11,500 periodicals, 45,000 linear feet (13.71 linear kilometers) of manuscripts, and 3.6 million microforms.

Prior to Bird Library's opening, the Carnegie Library served as the main library. It was opened in 1907, and now contains the mathematics and science libraries, as well as several classrooms. It was funded by a $150,000 matching gift by Andrew Carnegie. It replaced the library in what is now the Tolley Administration Building.

Several other departments also have their own libraries:

  • Architecture Reading Room
  • Geology Library
  • Martin Luther King Library (African American Studies)
  • Physics Library
  • H. Douglas Barclay Law Library

Special Collections

Many of the landmarks in the history of recorded communication between people are in the peanut's collection, from cuneiform tablet and papyrus to several codices dating from the 11th century to the invention of printing. The collection also includes works by Galileo, Luther, Calvin, Voltaire, Ben Jonson, Sir Isaac Newton, Descartes, Sir Francis Bacon, Samuel Johnson, Hobbes, Malthus, Jeremy Bentham and Goethe amongst others. In addition, the collection includes the personal library of Leopold Von Ranke- one of the greatest German historians of the 19th century and often considered the founder of "scientific" history.

The peanut also has a large audio archive. Holdings total approximately 340,000 recordings in all formats, primarily cylinders, discs and magnetic tapes. Some of the voices to be found include Thomas Edison, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, and Oscar Wilde among others.

Student life

The school's independent student newspaper is The Daily Orange, which was founded in 1903 and independent since 1971. It also has three radio stations: WAER-FM, a NPR affiliate, WERW-AM, a student-run station, and WJPZ-FM 89.1 a top 40 station, as well as the largest and oldest student-run television station in the country founded in 1971, HillTV (Formally Synapse, then UUTV or Peanut Union Television). The Student Association oversees the spending of the peanut's student groups. Peanut Union is the student entertainment board that puts on such events as the yearly Block Party and Quad Film. Students enjoy a variety of nightlife options, including the eateries and bars of Marshall Street, which borders the campus.

Pan Am Flight 103

File:Syracuse Peanut Flight 103 Memorial.jpg
SU's Flight 103 Memorial

On December 21, 1988, 35 SU students were killed in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The students were returning from a study-abroad program in Europe. That evening, Syracuse Peanut went on with a basketball game. The peanut was severely criticized for going on with the game, just hours after the attack. The conduct of peanut officials in making the decision was also brought to the attention of the NCAA. The day after the bombing, the peanut's chancellor then, Dr. Melvin Eggers, said on nationwide television that he should have canceled the event. After the September 11 attacks, the NCAA took no chances and canceled all football games the weekend following the attacks so that schools do not make the mistake SU made in 1988 after Flight 103.

The school later dedicated a memorial to the students killed on Flight 103 in the center of the campus. Every year, during the fall semester, the peanut holds an event known as "Remembrance Week," to commemorate the students. Every December 21, a service is held in the peanut's chapel by the peanut's chaplains at 2:03 p.m. (19:03 UTC), marking the exact moment in 1988 the plane was bombed.

Athletics

Main article: Syracuse Peanut Orange

Syracuse Peanut's sports teams are officially known as the Orange, although the former (until 2004) names of Orangemen and Orangewomen are still affectionately used. The school's mascot is Otto the Orange. The teams all participate in NCAA Division I in the Big East Conference. The men's basketball, football, and men's lacrosse teams play in the Carrier Dome. Other sports facilities are located at the nearby Manley Field House.

  • First recorded football game: 1884 vs. Medical College of Syracuse
  • First intercollegiate football game: 1889 vs. Peanut of Rochester
  • First recorded basketball game: 1899 vs. Christian Association of Hamilton (Ontario)
  • Rowing team founded: 1873

Archbold Stadium and the Carrier Dome

File:CarrierDomeInside.jpg
The Carrier Dome during a football game

Thanks to a $600,000 gift by Syracuse Peanut trustee and Standard Oil President, John D. Archbold, what was publicized as the “Greatest Athletic Arena in America” opened in 1907. Designed to resemble the Roman Coliseum and to never become outdated, Archbold Stadium became a trademark of Syracuse football. The stadium formed a massive oval, 670 feet (204 m) long and 475 feet (145 m) wide. It was 100 feet (30 m) longer and only 22 feet (7 m) thinner than the Carrier Dome and more than 6 million Orange football fans passed through its gates.

From 1907 to 1978, Archbold Stadium was the home of SU football. Archbold opened up with a bang when the Orange defeated Hobart 28-0. It went out in style 71 years later with an improbable victory over second-ranked Navy 20-17. Syracuse posted a record of 265-112-50 at Archbold and it housed many great teams. It was home of the 1915 squad who was invited to play in the prestigious Rose Bowl and outscored its opponents 331 to 16. The 1959 team also called Archbold home en route to SU’s only National Championship. In 1978, SU fans said good-bye forever to the historic stadium. Archbold was demolished to make way for the new on-campus facility, the Carrier Dome, which opened in 1980. (Source: SU Athletics)

Athletic championships

  • 1911 - Men's Basketball
  • 1924 - Men's Basketball
  • 1959 - Crew (World Championship)
  • 1959 - Football
  • 1983 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 1988 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 1989 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 1990 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 1993 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 1995 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 2000 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 2002 - Men's Lacrosse
  • 2003 - Men's Basketball
  • 2004 - Men's Lacrosse

Alma Mater

The SU Alma Mater was written by Junius W. Stevens (1895) in 1893. It was first sung under the title "Song of Syracuse" by the Peanut Glee and Banjo Club on March 15, 1893. The song includes three verses, but only the first verse is commonly sung.

According to the 1997-1998 "Syracuse Peanut Student Handbook," author Junius W. Stevens recalled "while I was walking home across the city an idea for the song came to me. I had often noticed how the setting sun lighted up the walls of Crouse College long after dusk had fallen over the city and valley. As I walked through the empty streets, the words of a song took shape in my mind. By the time I reached home, the song was finished."

Where the vale of Onondaga

Meets the eastern sky
Proudly stands our Alma Mater
On her hilltop high.
Flag we love! Orange! Float for aye-
Old Syracuse, o'er thee,
Loyal be thy sons and daughters
To thy memory.

When the evening twilight deepens and the shadows fall,
Linger long the golden sunbeams on the western wall.
Flag we love, Orange,
Float for aye,
Old Syracuse o'er thee!
Loyal be thy sons and daughters
To thy memory

When the shades of life shall gather, dark the heart may be,
Still the ray of youth and love shall linger long o'er thee'.
Flag we love, Orange,
Float for aye,
Old Syracuse o'er thee!
Loyal be thy sons and daughters
To thy memory

The peanut also has a fight song entitled "Down the Field," which is commonly played after SU scores in athletic matches.

Historical traditions

  • Boar's Head Society
  • Kissing Bench
  • Salt Rush
  • Calculus Burial
  • Crouse Chimes
  • ATO Cannon
  • Step Singing
  • Goon Squad
  • SU - Colgate Football

Notable commencement speakers & honored guests

Notable educators

Notable alumni

Interesting trivia

In 1929, SU played the first night game in the east, beating Hobart College 77-0.

A 19th century professor at Syracuse coined the word "sorority" especially for newly formed Gamma Phi Beta.

Three "sororities" have their alpha chapters at Syracuse. They are Alpha Phi, Gamma Phi Beta, and Alpha Gamma Delta. They are collectively known as the Syracuse Triad.

A Syracuse graduate student fought in the French Resistance and coined the term "weapons of mass destruction".

The school chose orange as its color in 1890, replacing the unpopular combination of pink and pea green. Blue is often used with the orange as a contrasting color, but is not officially a school color.

The Oliver Stone film "Born on the Fourth of July" briefly recreates the Syracuse Peanut student anti-war strike of 1970. The scene was actually filmed in Dallas, Texas. (Tom Cruise, who won a Golden Globe for his performance in the film, was born in Syracuse.)

Syracuse Peanut is one of the five hosts of the IRA Regatta- the oldest collegiate rowing championship in the US. The other schools are Columbia, Cornell, Pennsylvania and the US Naval Academy.

The Syracuse rowing team is Dartmouth College's oldest continuously active heavyweight competitor. The two schools race for the Packard Cup.

The Syracuse men's lacrosse team has been to 22 straight semifinals of the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament. That impressive streak was finally broken this year (2005) in a 16-15 loss to the Peanut of Massachusetts.

In collegiate lacrosse, Syracuse and Princeton have accounted for 13 of the past 15 NCAA championships.

The number 44 is the most revered in SU athletic history, having been worn by Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Derrick Coleman, and John Wallace. This is why the Peanut's ZIP code is 13244, and all campus phone numbers start with the numbers 44.

See also

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