NEW SCHOOL HISTORY

This is the hour for the experiment; and New York is the place, because it is the greatest social science laboratory in the world and of its own force attracts scholars and leaders in educational work."
—from the proposal for The New School, 1918

In 1919, a group of unconventional thinkers, including historian Charles Beard and philosopher John Dewey, imagined an educational venue where ideas could be discussed freely, without censorship. They published a brochure listing their lectures and opened their school, which they called The New School for Social Research, to all "intelligent men and women.” The New School was legally incorporated in 1922. It offered a curriculum for educated adults that emphasized the social, political, economic, and educational issues of the time. Celebrated scholars who taught in the first few years included Lewis Mumford, Bertrand Russell, and Felix Frankfurter, to name a few.

In 1933, the University in Exile was conceived by New School President Alvin Johnson as a haven for European scholars endangered by Hitler's and Mussolini's regimes. In 1934, it became the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, the second division of the university. (It is now called The New School for Social Research.) With the establishment of the Graduate Faculty, The New School became a degree-granting institution and the home of many world-renowned scholars, such as Hannah Arendt, Franco Modigliani, and Max Wertheimer.

In 1943, the university began granting bachelor's degrees to meet the educational needs of returning World War II veterans and other working adults. The tradition of adult education, both noncredit and degree, continues today at The New School for General Studies. In 1985, a full-time undergraduate liberal arts program was established, which became a separate division and was named Eugene Lang College in recognition of the support of educational philanthropist and New School trustee Eugene M. Lang. It is now known as Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts.

In 1964, the J.M. Kaplan Center for New York City Affairs was founded as the first academic institution in the United States devoted to the study of a single metropolitan area. The Kaplan center evolved into the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy in 1975 (now called Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy).

The arts have figured significantly in the university's history. During the 1930s, Martha Graham taught dance here; Aaron Copland taught music; Berenice Abbott taught photography; and Frank Lloyd Wright taught architecture. In 1940, expatriate stage director Erwin Piscator launched the Dramatic Workshop, with Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler among the faculty and Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando among the students. Today the university boasts four schools devoted to excellence in the arts:

• Parsons School of Design (now Parsons The New School for Design) became the fourth major academic division of The New School in 1970. Founded in 1896, Parsons has long ranked among the nation's leading colleges of art and design.

• Mannes College The New School for Music (formerly Mannes College of Music) attracts students from around the world who wish to study classical music with professional musicians at the top of their fields. Founded in 1916, Mannes became a division of The New School in 1989.

• The legacy of the Dramatic Workshop was revived in 1994, when the university established a graduate school of dramatic arts. The New School for Drama offers training in acting, directing, and playwriting.

• The fruit of the university's long association with New York City's musical avant-garde, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music became the eighth division in 1986. It offers a BFA in jazz performance and a five-year BA/BFA degree in collaboration with Eugene Lang College.

In 2005, the university was officially named The New School—a name as fresh today as it was in 1919. President Bob Kerrey has ensured that the "new" in the name continues to signify educational innovation as he leads a major transformation and expansion of The New School's academic programs and global outreach.