junior college: see community college.

electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." However, no senator, representative, or officer of the U.S. government may be an elector. The electors are directed by the Constitution to vote in their respective states, and Congress is authorized to count their votes.

To win, a presidential candidate must have a majority in the electoral college. Before adoption of the Twelfth Amendment (1804), in the event that no candidate had a majority, the House of Representatives (voting by states, with one vote for each state) was to choose the president from among the five candidates highest on the electoral list. Then, "after the choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President"; in case of a tie the Senate would choose the vice president. The Twelfth Amendment, however, resulting from the confused election of 1800 (see Jefferson, Thomas, and Burr, Aaron) provided that electors vote for president and vice president separately. It also reduced from five to three the number of candidates from among whom the House was to choose—in case no candidate had a majority (only two presidents, Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, have been elected by the House).

Changes in the System

In the early days electors were most often chosen by the state legislatures, but with the growth of democratic sentiment popular election became the rule. After 1832 (and until the Civil War) only in South Carolina did the legislature continue to choose electors. In some of the states at first the people voted for electors by congressional districts, with two being elected at large from the whole state, but with the growth of political parties this plan was largely discarded (only Maine and Nebraska currently use it) in favor of the general-ticket system (the one now prevailing), whereby a party needs only a plurality to carry the whole state. Thus in most states a voter casts a ballot for as many electors as the state is entitled to. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires either that the electors be chosen by popular vote or that the general-ticket system be employed.

Electors must be elected on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, as required by a federal law dating from 1845. As a belated result of the disputed election of 1876 involving Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes, the Electoral Count Act of 1887 placed the responsibility of deciding electoral disputes mainly on the states themselves. Congress now counts the votes (a mere formality) on Jan. 6.

Objections to the System

Only at the very outset did the electoral college function as planned, and there often has been widespread dissatisfaction with the institution. The outstanding objection is that it has given the nation 14 so-called minority presidents, i.e., presidents who had a majority in the electoral college but lacked it in the total national popular vote—James Polk (1844), Zachary Taylor (1848), James Buchanan (1856), Abraham Lincoln (1860, but not 1864), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), James A. Garfield (1880), Grover Cleveland (1884 and 1892), Benjamin Harrison (1888), Woodrow Wilson (1912 and 1916), Harry S. Truman (1948), John F. Kennedy (1960), Richard M. Nixon (1968, but not 1972), Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996), and George W. Bush (2000). Only Hayes, Harrison, and Bush, however, failed to win a plurality of the popular vote.

Since the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, numerous attempts have been made to alter the electoral college and to change the method of presidential election, but none has succeeded. The popular-vote loss and narrow electoral-college victory of George W. Bush in 2000 again led many to question the appropriateness of the institution in a modern representative democracy. Others continued to voice strong support for the electoral college and its enhancement of the importance of less populous states (by basing the number of a states' electors on its U.S. representatives and senators), fearing that otherwise presidential candidates would focus on more populous states and on the issues important to their voters.

community college, public institution of higher education. Community colleges are characterized by a two-year curriculum that leads to either the associate degree or transfer to a four-year college. The transfer program parallels the first two years of a four-year college. The degree program generally prepares students for direct entrance into an occupation. Because of their low tuition, local setting, and relatively easy entrance requirements, community colleges have been a major force in the post-World War II expansion of educational opportunities in the United States. They are also referred to as junior colleges.

York College: see New York, City University of.

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania: see Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Williams College, at Williamstown, Mass.; coeducational; chartered 1785, opened as a free school 1791, became a college 1793, named for Ephraim Williams. The Williams campus, noted for its fine old buildings, includes West College (1790), the Van Rensselaer Manor House (moved from Albany, N.Y.), and the oldest U.S. observatory (Hopkins; 1838). Williams College, the first to establish an institute of politics (maintained until 1934), now has several research institutes. The Chapin Library of Rare Books houses important books, manuscripts, and prints relating to Americana, English literature, and early painting. There is a fine art museum.

William and Mary in Virginia, College of, mainly at Williamsburg; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1693, opened 1694 by Episcopalians under James Blair. It became a university in 1779. The second oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, it traces its descent from plans for a university of Henrico in 1618, which were put aside after the Native American massacre of 1622. The college was closed when it was occupied (1781) by Revolutionary troops, in the Civil War, and again from 1881 to 1888 for lack of funds (see Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert). Phi Beta Kappa was founded there in 1776, and in 1779 the elective system and the honor system were first introduced. William and Mary established the first school of law in the United States and pioneered also in the teaching of political economy, natural philosophy, and modern history and languages. State aid was introduced in 1888, and the college joined the Virginia educational system in 1906. It became coeducational in 1918 and achieved university status in 1967. The Institute of Early American History and Culture, which publishes the historical periodical The William and Mary Quarterly, is there. The college library houses noted collections relating to Virginian and U.S. history.

Wesleyan College, at Macon, Ga.; United Methodist; for women; chartered 1836 as Georgia Female College. The present form of the name was adopted in 1919. Wesleyan College was the first college chartered to award degrees to women.

Wellesley College, at Wellesley, Mass.; for women; chartered 1870, opened 1875. Long a leader in women's education, it was the first woman's college to have scientific laboratories. With Lake Waban and 500 acres (202 hectares) of wooded hills, the campus is noted for its beauty. The Jewett Arts Center and the Davis Museum have collections of classical, medieval, and contemporary art, and the library has a large Browning collection. There is a cross-registration program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vassar College, at Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; coeducational; chartered 1861 by Matthew Vassar, opened 1865 as Vassar Female College, renamed 1867. A leading institution of higher education for women, it pioneered in music and physical education and had the first department of euthenics, devoted to applying scientific principles to living conditions. The school became coeducational in 1969. Vassar owns an extensive art collection; its Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center opened in 1993. There is also a fine library with collections relating to printing and literature.

Trinity College, Ireland: see Dublin, Univ. of.

Swarthmore College, at Swarthmore, Pa.; coeducational; founded 1864 by the Society of Friends. It maintains a cooperative program with Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and the Univ. of Pennsylvania.

State College, borough (1990 pop. 38,923), Centre co., central Pa., surrounded by farmland; settled 1859, inc. 1896. Manufacturing includes electronic products, foods, chemicals, and bottled water. Agricultural products include grain, vegetables, livestock, and dairy products. State College is the seat of the extensive main campus of Pennsylvania State Univ. Nearby are a state park and other recreational areas.

Spelman College: see Atlanta Univ. Center.

Smith College, at Northampton, Mass.; undergraduate for women, graduate coeducational; chartered 1871, opened 1875 through a bequest of Sophia Smith. The first president, Laurenus Clark Seelye, was influential in establishing high standards of scholarship. Smith is known for its junior-year-abroad program. It has a noted school of social work, and its art galleries are renowned for their collections of modern art. Its library has collections relating to music of the 16th and 17th cent., botany, women's history, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The school participates in a cooperative program with Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke colleges and the Univ. of Massachusetts.

Skidmore College, at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; chartered and opened 1911 as Skidmore School of Arts (for women) through a gift from Lucy Skidmore Scribner; chartered as a college 1922. In 1972 the school was opened to male students.

Scripps College: see Claremont Colleges.

Sarah Lawrence College, at Bronxville, N.Y.; primarily for women; chartered 1926, opened 1928 as Sarah Lawrence College for Women; renamed 1947. It is noted for its creative arts program.

Saint Olaf College, at Northfield, Minn.; Lutheran; coeducational; founded 1874 by Norwegians as a school, became a college 1886, chartered 1889. It offers special programs on Scandinavian culture and houses the Norwegian-American Historical Association.

Saint Mary's College, at Notre Dame, Ind., near South Bend; Roman Catholic; for women; est. 1844 as St. Mary's Academy, chartered 1850 at Bertrand, Mich.; moved and chartered 1855. The school shares certain programs and facilities with the Univ. of Notre Dame and offers numerous opportunities for study abroad.

Saint John's College, at Annapolis, Md., and Santa Fe, N.Mex.; coeducational; founded 1696 as King William's School, chartered 1784, opened 1786 as St. John's College. The Santa Fe campus was opened in 1964. Its curriculum is built around the "great books" program advocated by the educator R. M. Hutchins.

Royal Victoria College: see McGill Univ.

Robert College: see Bosporus, Univ. of the.

Richmond College: see New York, City Univ. of.

Reed College, at Portland, Oreg.; coeducational; inc. 1908, opened 1911 through a bequest from Mr. and Mrs. Simeon G. Reed. Reed is noted for its program of natural sciences and for its system of tutorial and small-conference instruction.

Randolph-Macon Woman's College, at Lynchburg, Va.; United Methodist; for women; est. 1891, opened 1893. Until 1953 it had a shared administration with Randolph-Macon College at Ashland, Va. Among the school's facilities are the Ethyl Science and Mathematics Resource Center and the Maier Museum of American Art.

Randolph-Macon College, at Ashland, Va.; United Methodist; chartered 1830, opened 1832 at Boydton, Va., moved 1868; named for John Randolph and Nathaniel Macon. Originally a college for men, it has been coeducational since 1971.

Radcliffe College: see Harvard University.

Queens College: see New York, City Univ. of.

Pomona College: see Claremont Colleges.

Pitzer College: see Claremont Colleges.

Pembroke College, Providence, R.I.: see Brown University.

Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio; coeducational; opened 1833 as Oberlin Collegiate Institute, became Oberlin College in 1850. It includes a college of arts and sciences and a well-known conservatory of music. One of the first colleges to have coeducational classes, Oberlin College was also a center of abolitionism. The early faculty was made up largely of New England Congregationalists, and Oberlin Theology is a modified form of Calvinism emphasizing the doctrine of free will (see Finney, Charles Grandison).

North College Hill, city (1990 pop. 11,002), Hamilton co., SW Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati; inc. as a city 1940. It is mostly residential. The Clovernook Center for the Blind there has a braille printing shop. A Revolutionary War cemetery is in the city.

Newcomb College: see Tulane Univ. of Louisiana.

New Jersey College for Women: see Rutgers Univ.

Mount Holyoke College, at South Hadley, Mass.; for women; chartered 1836, opened 1837 as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary under Mary Lyon, rechartered as Mount Holyoke College 1893. There is a noteworthy art museum on campus. Mount Holyoke participates in an educational consortium with Amherst, Smith, and Hampshire colleges and the Univ. of Massachusetts.

Morris Brown College: see Atlanta Univ. Center.

Morehouse College: see Atlanta Univ. Center.

Mills College, at Oakland, Calif.; for women; est. 1852 as the Young Ladies' Seminary at Benicia, Calif., moved 1871, chartered as Mills College 1885. The first women's college in the Far West, it has programs in English literature and creative writing, foreign languages and cultures, fine arts, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematics. It is noted for its fine arts department; other resources include the Center for Contemporary Music and the Children's School.

Middlebury College, at Middlebury, Vt.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1800. It is a small liberal arts college noted for its summer language schools, which pioneered in the development of specialized language study. It also operates graduate language schools in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. The Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference are also conducted by the college.

Meharry Medical College, at Nashville, Tenn.; coeducational; organized 1876 as the medical department of Central Tennessee College, granted an independent charter 1915. There are schools of medicine, dentistry, allied health professsions, and graduate studies. Although it was founded to train black doctors, it has never been segregated.

Medical College of Pennsylvania, formerly in Philadelphia; chartered and opened 1850 as the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania; became Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania 1867, Medical College of Pennsylvania 1970. It was the first women's medical college in the world. In 1970 it began accepting male students. The school merged (1993) with Hahnemann Univ., becoming the MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine of Allegheny Univ. of the Health Sciences, and was acquired in 1998 by Tenet Healthcare Corp., becoming MCP Hahnemann Univ. In 2002, Drexel Univ. assumed operation of the school, which became the Drexel College of Medicine.

Massachusetts State Teachers College: see Framingham State College.

Mary Washington College, mainly at Fredericksburg, Va.; state supported; chartered 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women; first given its present name in 1938; coeducational since 1970. A liberal arts school after 1934, it was consolidated (1944-72) with the Univ. of Virginia, becoming the undergraduate women's arts and sciences division. The Center for Historic Preservation is there. Its James Monroe Center, in Stafford, also offers postgraduate and professional education.

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, mainly at Baton Rouge; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1853, opened as a state seminary 1860 near Alexandria (with W. T. Sherman as president), moved 1869. It became a university in 1870 and merged with the Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1877. There are law and veterinary schools at Baton Rouge, the LSU Health Sciences Center is at New Orleans, and there is a second medical school at Shreveport. University research facilities include a nuclear science center, a center for aquaculture research, and museums of geoscience and natural science.

Lehman College: see New York, City University of.

King's College, University of: see Dalhousie Univ.

King's College, former name of Columbia Univ.

Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio; Episcopal; coeducational; chartered and opened 1824. It was founded by Philander Chase as a theological seminary with some undergraduate work and assumed its present name in 1872. Women were first admitted in 1969. The college publishes a noted literary quarterly, the Kenyon Review.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice: see New York, City University of.

Jackson College: see Tufts Univ.

Hunter College: see New York, City University of.

Holy Cross, College of the, at Worcester, Mass.; Jesuit; founded and opened 1843, chartered 1865 as a school for men, coeducational since 1972. Noteworthy among its facilities are the O'Callahan Science Library and the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies.

Heralds' College, body first chartered in 1483 by Richard III of England. It has been reorganized several times. Its purpose is to assign new coats of arms and to trace lineages to determine heraldic rights and privileges (see heraldry). It has collected and combined the rule of blazonry into a system. The college consists of the Garter king of arms (principal king of arms of both England and the Order of the Garter), the kings of arms of Norroy and Ulster and of Clarenceux, and several heralds and pursuivants (attendants). It is supervised by the earl marshal of England. In Scotland, heraldic matters are regulated by Lord Lyon; in Northern Ireland, the jurisdiction of the Ulster king of arms passed in 1943 to the king of arms of Norroy. The kings of arms and heralds also proclaim a new king's accession and attend at state occasions such as the opening of Parliament and the introduction of new peers into the House of Lords.

Harvey Mudd College: see Claremont Colleges.

Harvard College Observatory, astronomical observatory located in Cambridge, Mass., operated by Harvard (Harvard College at the time of the observatory's founding in 1839). Its equipment includes a 61-in. (155-cm) reflecting telescope and 15-in. (38-cm) and 12-in. (30-cm) refracting telescopes. Programs of the Harvard Observatory include various aspects of solar physics, stellar and nebular spectroscopy and photometry, and theoretical cosmology. Among the noted directors of the observatory have been W. C. Bond, G. P. Bond, E. C. Pickering, and Harlow Shapley. In 1973 the research programs of the Harvard College Observatory were merged with those of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; the observatory itself, however, maintains its separate status under the control of Harvard.

Hampshire College, at Amherst, Mass.; coeducational; opened 1970. The emphasis of the academic program is on the individual needs of the students. Hampshire participates in a cooperative arrangement with Amherst, Smith, and Mount Holyoke colleges and the Univ. of Massachusetts.

Hamilton College, at Clinton, N.Y.; coeducational; founded 1793 by Samuel Kirkland as Hamilton-Oneida Academy, chartered 1812 as Hamilton College. It was named for Alexander Hamilton. Originally a men's college, the school began admitting women in 1979. Hamilton is noted for its liberal arts curriculum.

Grinnell College, at Grinnell, Iowa; coeducational; incorporated 1847 as Iowa College, opened 1848 by Congregationalists at Davenport. The college moved to Grinnell in 1859, under the auspices of Josiah B. Grinnell. It was named Grinnell College in 1909. Among its facilities and programs are the Conard Environmental Research Area and the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights.

Goucher College, at Towson, Md., formerly at Baltimore; inc. 1885, opened 1888 by Methodists as a college for women, coeducational since 1987. It is named after John Franklin Goucher (president of the college, 1890-1908) and his wife, who were among the founders.

Girard College, in Philadelphia, an elementary and secondary boarding school for children with financial need from single-parent or parentless families. It opened 1848 with a bequest, now grown to a huge endowment, from Stephen Girard; it was originally a school for fatherless boys.

Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, Pa.; United Church of Christ (Evangelical-Reformed); coeducational; est. 1787 as Franklin College, reorganized 1853 when it merged with Marshall College (chartered 1836).

Framingham State College, at Framingham, Mass.; chartered 1838, opened 1839 at Lexington, moved to Framingham 1853, a normal school until 1930. Formerly known as the Massachusetts State Teachers College, it adopted its present name in 1960. The college is the oldest existing U.S. school for teachers and was the first under state control. It was established by Horace Mann, and its early success influenced the development of other normal schools.

Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa.; coeducational; Methodist; founded 1773 as The Grammar School, chartered and opened as Dickinson College 1783. It was named for John Dickinson. The Dickinson Law School, an affiliated institution, was established as a department of Dickinson College in 1834 and separately incorporated in 1890.

Dartmouth College Case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1819. The legislature of New Hampshire, in 1816, without the consent of the college trustees, amended the charter of 1769 to make Dartmouth College public. The trustees brought suit. Daniel Webster argued successfully that the amendment violated the Constitution because the state had impaired "the obligation of a contract." The opinion of the court, delivered by Chief Justice John Marshall, was that a charter was in effect inviolable. The decision made the contract clause of the Constitution a powerful instrument for the judicial protection of property rights against state abridgment. In 1837, Chief Justice Taney, while not challenging the basic principle, ruled in the Charles River Bridge Case that a legislative charter must be construed narrowly and a corporation could claim no implied rights beyond the specific terms of a grant.

Dartmouth College, at Hanover, N.H.; coeducational; chartered 1769, opened 1770, the ninth colonial college (see Wheelock, Eleazar). Originally a men's college, Dartmouth began admitting women in 1972. The school is actually a small university and was so named for a short time in the 19th cent. (see Dartmouth College Case). It has a strong undergraduate liberal arts program and graduate schools of medicine (1797), engineering (1871), and business administration (1900).

Columbia College: see Columbia University.

College of Physicians and Surgeons: see Columbia Univ.

College of Arms: see Heralds' College.

College Station, city (1990 pop. 52,456), Brazos co., E central Tex.; inc. 1938. In a prosperous cattle and cotton producing area, College Station doubled in population from 1970 to 1990. It is home to the huge Texas A&M Univ. and to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. The city of Bryan borders College Station on the northwest.

College Park. 1 City (1990 pop. 20,457), Clayton and Fulton counties, NW Ga., a residential suburb of Atlanta; inc. 1891. Georgia Military Academy (1900) is there. 2 City (1990 pop. 21,927), Prince Georges co., W central Md., a residential suburb of Washington, D.C.; settled 1745, inc. 1945. It is the seat of the Univ. of Maryland, the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (1887), and the Archives II building (1994) of the National Archives. The city's economy is centered on the university, research institutions, and electronics plants.

Colby College, at Waterville, Maine; coeducational; est. 1813, opened 1818. The school, principally a liberal arts college, adopted its present name in 1899. Its library includes the papers of Edwin Arlington Robinson.

Clark College: see Atlanta Univ. Center.

City College: see New York, City University of.

Citadel, The-The Military College of South Carolina, at Charleston; state supported; chartered (1842) as The Citadel, opened 1843. From 1882 to 1910 it was named the South Carolina Military Academy. Cadets are subject to military regulations. The exclusion of women from the traditionally all-male corps of cadets was challenged in court in the mid-1990s, and a state-sponsored South Carolina Institute of Leadership for Women opened (1995) at Converse College, Spartanburg, S.C., as a parallel program for women. In 1996, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar program at the Virginia Military Institute was inadequate, The Citadel voted to admit women to the cadet corps, and in 1999 the first woman graduated from the school.

Bryn Mawr College, at Bryn Mawr, Pa; undergraduate for women, graduate coeducational; opened 1885 by the Society of Friends, with a bequest from Joseph W. Taylor of Burlington, N.J. Modeled on a group curriculum plan at Johns Hopkins Univ., Bryn Mawr was one of the first women's colleges in the United States to offer graduate degrees. The library is especially noted for its collection of rare books and medieval incunabula. The school maintains a cooperative program with Haverford College, Swarthmore College, and the Univ. of Pennsylvania, and an exchange program with Spelman College.

Brookwood Labor College, at Katonah, N.Y.; founded in 1921 in association with the American Federation of Labor as an experimental college. Brookwood was an attempt to create an alternative to traditional colleges. It lasted only until 1937, when it fell victim to the Depression and to factionalism in the AFL. Although Brookwood's student body was small, its conferences drew activists from around the country and provided a forum that helped legitimize the labor movement.

Brooklyn College: see New York, City University of.

Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Maine; coeducational; chartered 1794, opened 1802, named for James Bowdoin. One of the nation's older colleges, its alumni include Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Franklin Pierce.

Boston College, main campus at Chestnut Hill, Mass.; coeducational; Jesuit; est. and opened 1863. Actually a university, the school's Chestnut Hill campus comprises colleges of arts and sciences and business administration, the graduate school, and schools of nursing and education. The law school is at Newton and the school of social work is at Boston. Seminarians attend a liberal arts college at Lenox and schools of philosophy and theology at Weston.

Birmingham-Southern College, at Birmingham, Ala.; United Methodist; coeducational; formed 1918 by the merger of Southern Univ. (chartered 1856; opened 1859 at Greensboro, Ala.) and Birmingham College (opened 1898). The Birmingham Conservatory of Music became a part of the college in 1953. In addition to its bachelor's degrees, the college offers a master's program in public and private management.

Bethune-Cookman College, at Daytona Beach, Fla.; United Methodist; coeducational. Named for its founder and first president, Mary McCleod Bethune, the school was formed as a result of a merger (1923) of the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Girls (founded 1904) and the Cookman Institute (founded 1872). It became a four-year college in 1941. Founded primarily for African Americans, it is open to all qualified students.

Berea College, at Berea, Ky.; coeducational; founded 1855 by John G. Fee as a one-room school, chartered 1866, a college since 1869. Fostered by abolitionists including Cassius M. Clay, it aimed to educate both black and white, male and female residents of Appalachia. Students (whose families must earn below a certain level) are guaranteed tuition through grants, scholarships, and a minimum of 10 hours of work a week in school-owned operations including a bakery, laundry, printing shop, and hotel.

Bennington College, at Bennington, Vt.; coeducational (originally for women); chartered 1925, opened 1932. Its curriculum is based on individual interests and needs. All students are required to devote part of their time to off-campus employment, usually relating to their course of study. Many faculty members are practicing artists, and a close relationship between students and faculty is encouraged.

Bates College, at Lewiston, Maine; coeducational; founded 1855 as Maine State Seminary, chartered as a college 1864. It was the first Eastern college to admit women students. The Edmund S. Muskie Archives are there.

Baruch College: see New York, City University of.

Barnard College: see Columbia University.

Bard College, at Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.; founded 1860 as St. Stephen's College for men; rechartered 1935 as Bard College; became coeducational in 1944; affiliated with Columbia Univ. 1928-44. A small, progressive college, Bard stresses independent study. It offers graduate degrees in cooperation with Columbia (engineering), the Univ. of Rochester (business), Syracuse (public administration), Hunter College and the Univ. of Pennsylvania (social work), Duke (forestry and environmental studies), Yale (public health), and Pratt (architecture).

Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio; coeducational; chartered 1852, opened 1853. Horace Mann, Antioch's first president, envisioned a program stressing the development not only of the intellect but of the whole personality, especially the individual's social conscience and competence. The cooperative work-study program, adopted in 1921, has been developed in an attempt to achieve this goal. The program is divided between off-campus work and on-campus study. Students are given a voice in community government, college policy formulation, and other administrative affairs. The college has several experimental and research centers and maintains its own foreign study program. Antioch Review is published there. Antioch College is now part of the larger Antioch Univ. (1978), which includes Antioch New England, Antioch Southern California, Antioch Seattle, and the McGregor School.

Amherst College, at Amherst, Mass.; founded 1821 as a college for men, coeducational since 1975. A liberal arts institution, Amherst maintains a cooperative program with Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College, and the Univ. of Massachusetts.

Agnes Scott College, at Decatur, Ga.; Presbyterian, U.S.; for women; founded 1889 as the Decatur Female Seminary, chartered 1906 as Agnes Scott College.

or community college

Educational institution that provides up to two years of college-level academic, technical, and vocational instruction with emphasis on career preparation. Roots of the junior college may be traced to the Chautauqua movement and other adult-education programs created after the American Civil War. The first junior college opened in Joliet, Ill., in 1901. The vast majority of junior colleges are publicly supported; called community colleges, they offer a variety of flexible programs that are often nontraditional in style and content. They have pioneered in offering part-time study, evening sessions, instruction by television, weekend workshops, and other services for members of their communities. Students rarely live on campus. Graduates of junior or community colleges ordinarily earn an associate's degree. They then transfer to a four-year college or enter the workforce. Seealso continuing education.

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Constitutionally mandated process for electing the U.S. president and vice president. Each state appoints as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress (U.S. senators, representatives, and government officers are ineligible); the District of Columbia has three votes. A winner-take-all rule operates in every state except Maine and Nebraska. Three presidents have been elected by means of an electoral college victory while losing the national popular vote (Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George W. Bush in 2000). Though pledged to vote for their state's winners, electors are not constitutionally obliged to do so. A candidate must win 270 of the 538 votes to win the election.

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Social, professional, or honorary societies for males and females, respectively. Most such organizations use combinations of letters of the Greek alphabet as names. Many social organizations at U.S. colleges and universities are residential and require new members (“pledges”) to partake in initiation rites. Certain honorary societies, such as Phi Beta Kappa, are also called fraternities; membership is based on general undergraduate scholarship. Seealso secret society.

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Institution that offers postsecondary education. The term has various meanings. In Roman law a collegium was a body of persons associated for a common function. The name was used by many medieval institutions, including guilds. In most universities of the later Middle Ages, collegium meant an endowed residence hall for university students. The colleges kept libraries and scientific instruments and offered salaries to tutors who could prepare students to be examined for degrees. Eventually few students lived outside colleges, and college teaching eclipsed university teaching. In England, secondary schools (e.g., Winchester and Eton) are sometimes called colleges. Canada also has collegiate schools. In the U.S., college may refer to a four-year institution of higher education offering a bachelor's degree, or to a two-year junior or community college with a program leading to the associate's degree. A four-year college usually emphasizes a liberal arts or general education rather than specialized technical or vocational preparation. The four-year college may be an independent private institution or an undergraduate division of a university.

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Private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Mass. Established in 1793 and affiliated with the Congregational church, it has since become nondenominational. Williams has consistently rated as one of the best colleges in the U.S., offering bachelor's and master's degree programs in fine and applied arts and sciences. Campus facilities include notable collections of American, contemporary, and South Asian art and materials relating to U.S. history. Notable alumni include director Elia Kazan.

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Private women's college in Wellesley, Mass., chartered in 1870. Long one of the most eminent women's colleges in the U.S., it was the first to provide scientific laboratories. It grants bachelor's degrees in humanities, including Chinese, Japanese, and Russian languages; in social science, including African studies, religion, and economics; and in science and mathematics, including computer science. Among its facilities are an advanced science centre and an observatory.

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Private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. It was founded as a college for women by Matthew Vassar (1792–1868) in 1861 but did not open until 1865. It became coeducational in 1968. Vassar offers undergraduate studies in most major disciplines, and it has master's degree programs in biology, chemistry, and drama. The F.L. Loeb Art Center houses one of the oldest art collections in the U.S.

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Private liberal arts college in Hartford, Conn., founded in 1823. It is historically affiliated with the Episcopal church, though its curriculum is nonsectarian. Bachelor's degrees are granted in more than 30 different study areas, and graduate study is offered by several departments, including economics, English, and history. Trinity participates in a cooperative exchange program with 12 New England colleges and universities.

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Private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Ga. Its history is traced to 1881, when two Boston women began teaching 11 black women, mostly ex-slaves, in an Atlanta church basement. Donations from John D. Rockefeller, beginning in 1884, assured the school's growth; the school is named for Rockefeller's mother-in-law. Spelman offers bachelor's degrees in more than 20 academic fields. It is one of six African American institutions in the Atlanta area that share students, faculty, facilities, and curricula. Spelman's alumnae include attorney and children's rights activist Marian Wright Edelman and author Alice Walker.

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Private liberal arts college for women in Northampton, Mass. It was founded in 1871 through the bequest of Sophia Smith (1796–1870). Bachelor's degrees are granted in most major academic fields, and master's degrees are granted in biology, dance, education, music, religion, social work, and theatre. Smith's school of social work also grants doctoral degrees. The college belongs to a five-college cooperative with Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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Private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. Founded in 1833, it was the first U.S. college to admit women and the first to admit black students on an equal footing with whites. In its early years it was a station on the Underground Railroad. It has faculties of arts, communications, foreign languages, law, letters, mathematics, psychology, public service, science, and social sciences, as well as a music conservatory.

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Private liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Mass. Founded by Mary Lyon as a female seminary in 1837, it was one of the first institutions of higher education for women in the U.S. Baccalaureate courses are taught in the humanities, science and mathematics, and social sciences. Mount Holyoke is part of an educational consortium with Amherst, Hampshire, and Smith colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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Private, historically black, men's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Ga. It was founded as the Augusta Institute, a seminary, in 1867 and renamed in 1913 in honour of Henry L. Morehouse, an administrator. It offers programs in business, education, humanities, and physical and natural sciences. It is part of an educational consortium in which six institutions, including Spelman College, exchange faculty, students, facilities, and curricula. Notable alumni include Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader Julian Bond, and filmmaker Spike Lee.

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Private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vt., founded in 1800. It is known for its curriculum emphasizing writing, literature, and modern languages. Middlebury sponsors the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, an annual gathering for established and aspiring authors.

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Private university in New York City, a traditional member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 as King's College, it was renamed Columbia College when it reopened in 1784 after the American Revolution. It became Columbia University in 1912. Its liberal arts college began admitting women in 1983. Neighbouring Barnard College, founded in 1889 and part of the university since 1900, remains a women's liberal arts school; most courses are open to students of both colleges. From the outset Columbia differed from other private Eastern universities in its emphasis on such subjects as nature study, commerce, history, and government. It has strong graduate programs in the arts and sciences and several notable research institutes. Among its professional schools are those of architecture, business, education (Teachers College, Columbia University), engineering, international and public affairs, journalism, law, medicine (including affiliations with Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital), nursing, public health, and social work.

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Private institution of higher learning in Hanover, N.H., a traditional member of the Ivy League. It is consistently ranked as one of the best liberal arts colleges in the U.S. It was founded in 1769 by Rev. Eleazar Wheelock (1711–79) for the education of “youth of the Indian Tribes . . . English Youth and others.” The original charter was approved by King George III. Women were first admitted in 1972. Besides offering a broad range of undergraduate programs, Dartmouth grants graduate and professional degrees in the arts and sciences, business, engineering, and medicine. Seealso Dartmouth College case.

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Private women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pa., near Philadelphia. Though founded in 1885 by a group of Quakers, it has long operated on a nondenominational basis. It offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts and sciences, social research, and social work. It enjoys an academic exchange with nearby Haverford and Swarthmore colleges and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. Founded in 1794 as a men's college, it was named for James Bowdoin (1726–90), first president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It became coeducational in 1971. It offers bachelor's degrees in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Academic facilities include a marine research station and an arctic museum. Its historic buildings include the Walker Art Building, designed by Charles F. McKim and Stanford White. Notable alumni include Nathaniel Hawthorne and U.S. Pres. Franklin Pierce.

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Private liberal arts college founded in 1860 in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, U.S. It was founded by John Bard and Episcopal church leaders as St. Stevens, an Episcopal college for men. The name was changed to Bard College in 1934. Between 1928 and 1944 it served as Columbia University's undergraduate school. It became coeducational in 1944. Its undergraduate curriculum includes courses in the social sciences, languages and literature, arts, and natural sciences and mathematics.

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Private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S., chartered in 1825. Noah Webster was one of its founders. Consistently ranked as one of the finest colleges in the U.S., it offers a wide range of courses in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Originally a men's college, it became coeducational in 1975. It participates in an exchange program with nearby Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges and the University of Massachusetts.

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