Seth Low Junior College, located at 375 Pearl Street in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, was founded in 1928 by

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, as "one of Columbia’s many attempts to deal with a changing student population that they felt was contaminating its pristine, Protestant campus." It was named for

Seth Low Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of ...

, former President of Columbia University (1890–1901), who had been Mayor of Brooklyn (1881–1885) and of New York (1902–1903). Faced with competition from tuition-free

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, founded in 1930, and affected by the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, it closed its Brooklyn campus and ceased admitting new students in 1936. (Existing students completed their studies on the Morningside Heights campus; all activities ended in 1938.) It is little known today;

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

, who had never heard of it when referred there, remarked that for the rest of his life, he "never heard of anyone who has ever heard of it—unless he, too, had been a student there."

Academics

Enrollment was limited to 300 male students. Tuition was the same as at the main Columbia campus, $380. All faculty were "regular members of the departments of Columbia University in which they serve." Students who completed two years at Seth Low were eligible for admission to Columbia's Schools of Architecture or Business, or its optometry program. After three years of study, which necessarily included at least some classes on the Morningside Heights campus, the students were eligible for admission to the Schools of Law, Medicine, Engineering, or the

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

A second-class college for Jews

The enrollment at Seth Low was "heavily Jewish, with a strong Italian minority". According to Asimov, "it was clear that the purpose of the school was to give bright youngsters of unacceptable social characteristics a Columbia education without too badly contaminating the elite young men of the College itself by their formal presence."

Famous students

The most famous student of Seth Low College was

, who, after rejection by Columbia College on Columbia's main campus, studied at Seth Low from 1935 to 1936, then tranferring to Columbia. He has written at length about his time at Seth Low. Basketball player and coach

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. As a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he led the Boston Celtics to an unprecedented champio ...

also studied at Seth Low, as did historian

Herbert Aptheker Herbert Aptheker (July 31, 1915 – March 17, 2003) was an American Marxist historian and political activist. He wrote more than 50 books, mostly in the fields of African-American history and general U.S. history, most notably, ''American Negro ...

and politician

Seymour Halpern Seymour Halpern (November 19, 1913 – January 10, 1997) was an American politician from New York. Life He was born in New York City. He graduated from Richmond Hill High School and attended Seth Low Junior College of Columbia University from 19 ...

Podcast

The first episode of Gatecrashers, a podcast series about Jews and the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

colleges, is about Seth Low.

Archival material

The

Columbia University Libraries Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources ...

have compiled a guide to their Seth Low Junior College papers. The student newspaper ''The Seth Low Scop'' is available in the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

References

Firther reading

* {{cite book , title=Seth Low Junior College of Columbia University : a case study of an abortive experiment , last=Carron , first=Blossom R. , year=1979 , publisher=Columbia University dissertation , url=https://teacherscollege.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01TCCU_INST:01TCCU&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&docid=alma991000947949706971 1928 establishments in New York City 1936 disestablishments in New York (state) Jewish universities and colleges in the United States Defunct schools in New York City Columbia University colleges and schools Universities and colleges in Brooklyn Community colleges in New York City Universities and colleges established in 1928 Universities and colleges disestablished in the 20th century Antisemitism in New York City