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Sarah Lawrence College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college which stretches from the Lawrence Park section of Yonkers, New York, into the village of Bronxville, New York, and is about a thirty-minute train ride north of New York City. Founded as a women's college in 1926, it became coeducational in 1968.
General information Sarah Lawrence has an undergraduate student population of 1,197 in addition to 314 graduate students, and is renowned for its strong writing and performing arts departments. The college boasts a low six-to-one student-to-faculty ratio and a nontraditional, rigorous, and individualized approach to academics. At the undergraduate level, Sarah Lawrence offers a Bachelor of Arts degree where, instead of traditional majors, students pursue a wide variety of courses in four different curricular distributions: the creative arts (creative writing, music, dance, theater, painting, film), history and the social sciences (anthropology, economics, political science, sociology), the humanities (Asian studies, art history, languages, literature, philosophy, religion), and natural science and mathematics (biology, chemistry, physics). Each student is assigned to a faculty advisor, known as a "don," to plan a course of study. Most courses (apart from courses in the performing arts) consist of two parts: the seminar, limited to 15 students, and the conference, a private, semi-weekly meeting with a seminar professor. In these conferences, students develop individual projects that extend the course material and link it to their personal interests. Sarah Lawrence has no required courses and traditional examinations have largely been replaced with writing final research papers and essays. The College sponsors international programs in Florence, at Oxford, at Reid Hall in Paris, and at the British Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Additionally, Sarah Lawrence is one of only three American colleges operating an international program in Cuba.* Sarah Lawrence also offers Master's-level programs in Writing, the Art of Teaching, Child Development, Health Advocacy, Human Genetics, Theatre, and Dance, and is home to the nation's oldest graduate program in Women's History. Early history Sarah Lawrence College was originally founded as a women's college in 1926 by pharmaceutical and real estate mogul William Van Duzer Lawrence on the grounds of his estate and named for his wife, in Westchester County. William Lawrence played a critical role in the development of the community of Bronxville near the present-day Sarah Lawrence campus, and his name can be found on the affluent Lawrence Park neighborhood adjacent to the campus, and at Lawrence Hospital in downtown Bronxville, an institution that was created when Lawrence’s son, Dudley, nearly died en route to a hospital in neighboring New York City. The College was modeled with the tutorial system of Oxford University in mind, and a low student-to-faculty ratio was considered to be of absolute importance. Followed by Bennington College, Sarah Lawrence was the first liberal arts college in the United States to incorporate a rigorous approach to the arts with the principles of progressive education, focusing on the primacy of teaching and the concentration of curricular efforts on individual needs. A major early component of the College's early curriculum was “productive leisure,” wherein students were required to work for eight hours weekly in such fields as modeling, shorthand, typewriting, applying makeup, and gardening. Sarah Lawrence became coeducational in 1968. Development of today’s Sarah Lawrence College Harold Taylor, President of Sarah Lawrence College from 1945 to 1959 highly influenced the college. Taylor, elected president at age 30, maintained a friendship with educational philosopher John Dewey, and worked to employ the Dewey method at Sarah Lawrence. Taylor spent much of his career calling for educational reform in the United States, using the success of his own College as an example of the possibilities of a personalized, modern, and rigorous approach to higher education . Political involvement and activism Political activism has played a crucial role in forming the spirit of the Sarah Lawrence community since the early years of the College. As early as 1938, students were working in working-class sections of Yonkers, New York to help bring equality and educational opportunities, and the Sarah Lawrence College War Board, organized by students in the fall of 1942, sought to aid troops fighting in World War II. During a time when the College's enrollment was at only 293 students, 204 signed up as volunteers during the first week of the War Board. During the so-called McCarthy Years, a number of Sarah Lawrence's faculty members were accused by the American Legion of being sympathetic to the Communist Party, and were called before the Jenner Committee. Since that time, activism has played a central role in student life, with movements for civil rights in the 1960s and for student and faculty diversity in the 1980s. Also in the 1960s, students established an Upward Bound program for students from lower-income and poverty areas to prepare for college. Theatre Outreach, the Child Development Institute, the Empowering Teachers Program, the Community Writers program, the Office of Community Partnership and the Fulbright High School Writers Program are among the many programs founded the since the 1970s to provide services to the larger community. In the late 1980s, students occupied Westlands, the main administrative building for the campus, in a sit-in for wider diversity. Students have remained active in recent years, with numerous organizations and movements sprouting in response to the Iraq War. For many years, the College has been considered at the vanguard of the sexual rights movement. Academics, curriculum, and philosophy As with many small liberal arts colleges, classes are taught by faculty rather than graduate students and the resources offered by the College's six-to-one student to faculty ratio, the lowest in the nation, are capitalized on with small classes and intensive one-on-one conferences between students and professors in a system patterned on the Oxford method of "donning." Sarah Lawrence does not use grades for the purposes of student competition or as a singular representation of a student's achievement in a given course. While grades are recorded for transcript purposes, they have been replaced in practice by lengthy, detailed evaluations written by the course's professor at the end of each semester. These evaluations are meant to reflect the student's progress rather than give a certain numerical depiction of adequacy, and the student's work in his or her conferences, within the class itself, and on the various papers and assignments expected in each course are taken into account in their construction. Sarah Lawrence does not offer traditional major fields, and each undergraduate is awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts. Students work closely with their faculty mentor, or "don," who is assigned in the student's first year, to design a curricular concentration and to ensure that the student does not receive an unfocused education. The don will often encourage the student to integrate his or her courses through the student's conference work or through various outside projects. Donning The "donning" system is modeled after a similar approach used at Oxford University. In his or her freshman year, each student selects a first-year seminar, the subject matter of which is meant to correspond to their potential fields of interest in their future studies. These seminars are often interdisciplinary in organization. The teacher of this seminar becomes the student's "don," or close academic advisor, who will remain with the student until graduation unless the student chooses to change dons for reasons of his or her own choice. No student is obliged to stay with a particular don. Transfer students, who do not take first-year seminars at Sarah Lawrence, are assigned dons by the administration with the reminder that the assignment is random. Over the years, the don will assure that the student's course choices are balanced and not unfocused and that the student meets all necessary requirements for graduation. The don serves as more than an academic advisor, though, and can intervene in disputes between the student and the administration, staff, or faculty, or in times of distress on the part of the student. The three-course system and the "Third" Another unique and, perhaps, peculiar component of the curriculum at Sarah Lawrence is the three-course system that is employed in all four years of study. Students are limited to taking only three courses in a given semester, with exceptions being made only after the student has successfully petitioned the appropriate administrative committees. Just as at many other colleges, a full-time courseload comprises fifteen credit-hours each semester, thereby leaving the value of each course at five credits per semester, with yearlong courses (which, unlike at most American colleges and universities, are quite common) being valued at ten credits. The idea behind limiting the students' number of courses is not to limit the workload. Instead, the purpose is to allow each student to become thoroughly engaged with the material of each class. Moreover, with the student being required to meet in a one-on-one conference with his or her don (see "Donning," above) at least every other week, and with a sustained and extensive project being expected as the result of these conferences, most students feel as though they have six courses each semester rather than three. In order to eliminate a number of curricular and pedagogical problems posed by the three-course system, the College has provided an option known as the "Third," wherein one or more of the three courses taken in a given semester is replaced by related components. For example, since the performing arts require that a series of component classes be taken rather than one large, general course, the student takes a "Theatre Third." In such a situation, the student would be taking several mini-classes (for example: vocal techniques, the Alexander Technique, Shakespearian acting, etc.), the sum of which are counted on the student's transcript as one course. The Third, therefore, allows students access to more specialized professors and a more thorough foundation in the discipline. Thirds are also commonly used for music and dance. Yet another option is the "Language-Lecture Third," wherein the student takes a foreign-language course in addition to one of the four semester-long lecture courses required for graduation. The two courses are counted on the student's transcript as one course, thereby allowing the student to take four courses for the price of three. The Language-Lecture Third was implemented after a number of students expressed a reluctance to devoting a full third of their curriculum to the study of a foreign language. International programs The College has become known for its thorough and creative international programs and currently sponsors six of them in four countries. Sarah Lawrence makes all practical efforts to preserve its most characteristic elements, such as one-on-one interaction with professors, small classes, and an emphasis on qualitative comprehension, in its programs overseas. Campus The Sarah Lawrence campus is located on 41 hilly acres of grassy fields and rocky outcroppings atop a promontory above the banks of the Bronx River. Much of the campus was originally a part of the estate of the College's founder, William Van Duzer Lawrence, though the College has more than doubled its geographical size since Lawrence bequeathed his estate to the College in 1926. The terrain of the campus is characterized by dramatic outcroppings of exposed bedrock shaded by large oak and elm trees. Much of the older architecture on the campus follows the Tudor style that was popular in the area during the early twentieth century, and many of the College's newer buildings attempt to achieve an updated interpretation of the same pattern language. It can be said that the campus is divided into two distinctive sections: the "Old Campus" and the "New Campus," wherein the former is roughly contained within the boundaries of the erstwhile Lawrence estate, and the latter is that which was obtained some time after the College's earliest years. The old campus The centerpiece of the Old Campus is Westlands, an enormous manor house that was custom-built for the Lawrence family during the 1910s. Upon its completion in 1917, its extraordinary architecture and graceful proportions earned it a spot on the front page of The New York Times. William Lawrence also had a small gazebo constructed on the north lawn of his estate, which has since been fully enclosed and now houses the College's "Teahouse," serving students a variety of baked goods and beverages. A stable and carriage house at the extreme southern end of the estate, now known as Sheffield House, has since been converted to faculty office and classroom space. One of the College's first purpose-built buildings, Bates, named for the architect of all of the original buildings on campus, is an enormous facility that has housed variously over the years classrooms, offices, a basketball court, and art studios. It is now devoted almost entirely to student recreational facilities. The four original dorm spaces on campus, which are casually referred to as "The Old Dorms," were completed in the 1920s and early 1930s, the construction of which was supervised by William Lawrence's son, Dudley Lawrence, for whom one of the buildings is now named. These dormitories are still quite popular among students, and also house a number of classrooms, a lecture hall, and faculty offices. Across the North Lawn from the Old Dorms stand three buildings constructed in the Modernist architectural style and designed in the late 1950s by world-renowned architect Phillip Johnson. Known as the "New Dorms," they house traditional and apartment-style living spaces. On the South Lawn of Westlands stand the Ruth Leff Siegal Student Center, the DeCarlo Performing Arts Center, and the Esther Raushenbush Library. The new campus The area outside the original Lawrence estate is now host to some of the College's more cutting-edge facilities, though a number of stately, century-old Tudor style mansions are still found among these newer additions, among them Andrews, Tweed, Lynd, and Slonim Houses, all of which were once private residences. In 2004, the College completed construction of a state-of-the-art visual arts facility, the Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold Visual Arts Center, the sleek architecture and environmentally friendly aspects of which earned the College national press attention. Not far from this facility is the less-glamorous but equally practical Hill House, a seven-story apartment building purchased by the College in the late 1990s that now houses student residences. Across the street from Hill House is a large, unnamed manor that was purchased by Sarah Lawrence in 2004 from the government of Rwanda. This building once housed the Rwandan consul, and will not be used by the College until the city of Yonkers agrees to its rezoning. On the same end of campus is the College's athletics and physical education facility, the Campbell Sports Center. On the opposite end of the campus stands the Science and Mathematics Center, completed in 1994. Athletics Sarah Lawrence College is a member of the Hudson Valley Women’s’ Athletic Conference (HVWAC), the Hudson Valley Men’s’ Athletic Conference (HVMAC), the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, and the United States Rowing Association. Most of the College’s athletics programs are centered at the Campbell Sports Center on the southern end of the campus, though the College operates its equestrian program at nearby facilities. Although athletics have never been a central facet of the Sarah Lawrence experience, and despite the lack of athletics scholarships, many students choose to participate in the school’s various sports programs and the College requires a nominal amount of physical education participation for graduation. In addition to the programs listed below, the College occasionally sponsors a number of other sports, such as cross-country and men’s crew, according to student demand. The teams play officially with a gryphon as their mascot and with a dark green as their color. Current president The current president is Michele Tolela Myers, who has served since 1998. Born in Morocco and raised in Paris, President Myers holds a Ph.D. and a master's degree from the University of Denver, another master's degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, and a Diplôme in political science and economics from the Institute of Political Studies at the University of Paris. President Myers has seen the recent completion of a $75 million capital campaign at Sarah Lawrence, as well as the construction of several new buildings and facilities on the campus. Dr. Myers announced in late 2005 that she will retire in the summer of 2007. Past presidents Notable alumni Among the College's more recognizable alumni are television personality Barbara Walters, actresses Tovah Feldshuh, Téa Leoni, Larisa Oleynik, Jill Clayburgh, and Joanne Woodward, film director Brian De Palma, singer Carly Simon, composer and choreographer Meredith Monk, dancer Jean Erdman, fashion designer Vera Wang, writers JJ Abrams and Ann Patchett, poet Lucy Grealy, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Alice Walker and Louise Gluck. Several notable people have attended without receiving degrees, including conceptual artist Yoko Ono, photographer Linda McCartney, and actor Cary Elwes. Notable faculty As a result of its small class sizes and unique fusion of informality and rigor in its academic environment, Sarah Lawrence has been able to attract a number of high-profile faculty members that is perhaps disproportionately large for a school its size, including winners of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, and Emmy Award. Among the more notable of these educators who are currently teaching at the College are novelist Melvin Jules Bukiet, Middle Eastern Affairs expert Fawaz Gerges, poet Marie Howe, and economist Franklin Delano Roosevelt, III. Past faculty members have included world-renowned mythographer Joseph Campbell, film director Brian DePalma, writer and thinker E.L. Doctorow, choreographer Martha Graham, composers William Schuman, Norman Dello Joio and George Tsontakis, master violin teacher Dorothy Delay, leftist intellectual Susan Sontag, writers Grace Paley and Russell Banks, photographer Gregory Crewdson, and poets Billy Collins, Galway Kinnell, and Muriel Rukeyser. In 2005, current faculty member Eduardo Lago won the oldest literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world, the Premio Nadal. Sarah Lawrence college in quotes . Sarah Lawrence College in popular culture Trivia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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