The story
In 1817, the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York was founded by thirteen men (six clergymen and seven laymen). Two years later, in 1819, the state granted the school a charter, and it opened a year later, in 1820. The first classes were held in a building in the town of Hamilton. Three years later, in 1823, the Baptist Theological Seminary at New York City incorporated with the Baptist Education Society and subsequently changed its name to the Hamilton Literary & Theological Institution. Among the trustees was William Colgate, founder of the Colgate Company.
In 1826, the school's trustees bought farmland that later became the focal point of the campus, known as "The Hill". One year later, the current students and faculty of the school built West Hall, using stone cut from a quarry on the property. Originally called West Edifice before being renamed to West Hall, it is the oldest structure on campus. On March 26, 1846, the State of New York granted a college charter to Hamilton's Collegiate Department; in the two years prior to that, at the request of Hamilton trustees, degrees of forty-five Bachelor's students and at least one Master's candidate were awarded by Columbian College in Washington, D.C. (now the George Washington University), a fellow Baptist institution. In 1846, the school changed its name to Madison University. In 1850, the Baptist Education Society planned to move the university to Rochester, but was halted by legal action. Dissenting trustees, faculty, and students founded the University of Rochester. Another group of Baptist dissenters, calling for an end to racial and gender discrimination, had founded New-York Central College in 1849.
In 1853, the first African American known to graduate from Madison University (AB degree) was Henry Livingston Simpson. He continued his studies and earned a theological degree in 1855.
In 1890, Madison University changed its name to Colgate University in recognition of the family and its gifts to the school. James B. Colgate, one of William Colgate's sons, established a $1 million endowment called the Dodge Memorial Fund. In 1912 Colgate Academy, a preparatory and high school that had operated in Hamilton since the early 1800s, was closed and its facility became Colgate University's administration building.
During World War II, Colgate University was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.
Beginning with undergraduate students admitted in 2022, Colgate became fully tuition-free for students from families making $80,000 or less, charged between 5 and 10% of income for families making between $80,000 and $150,000, and met 100% of demonstrated need for students from families making more than $150,000.
Coeducation
At its inception, the institution was an all-male institution but started to see female students attend in a limited capacity as early as the mid-1800s when Emily Taylor, daughter of then-president Stephen W. Taylor (1851–56), attended her father's moral philosophy class.
The institution's first full-time female student was Mabel Dart (later Colegrove), who participated in classes from 1878 to 1882. At the time, university officials deemed it best that female students not be embarrassed by graduating from an all-male college, and made arrangements for Dart officially to receive her degree from the then all-female Vassar College.
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In the ensuing years, additional female students participated in courses, including faculty spouses and the wives of enrolled veterans in the post-WWII era. Colgate became fully coeducational in 1970.
Cutten's controversial legacy
The national monument at Ellis Island displays a statement by Colgate's eighth president, George Barton Cutten, which has been criticized for its jingoistic anti-immigration sentiment. He warned, "The danger [that] the 'melting pot' brings to the nation is the breeding out of the higher divisions of the white race."
While Cutten's legacy has been marred by the espousal of racist beliefs, the contributions he made to developing the prestige and facilities of Colgate were significant. Student protests in 2006 around campus facilities bearing Cutten's name became emblematic of the division surrounding how modern American universities should reconcile their own history with racism. Colgate removed the Cutten name from a residential complex located between Whitnall Field and Huntington Gym in 2017. Each of the four houses that compose the building—Brigham, Shepardson, Read, and Whitnall—is now known by its existing name and street address, 113 Broad Street.
From Wikipedia’s article on Colgate University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5