The New School was founded in New York City nearly a century ago by a small group of prominent American intellectuals and educators, among them Charles Beard, John Dewey, James Harvey Robinson, and Thorstein Veblen. Frustrated by the intellectual timidity of traditional colleges, they envisioned a new kind of academic institution where faculty and students would be free to address honestly and directly the problems facing societies in the 20th century. In 1919, they created a school of advanced adult education to bring creative scholars together with citizens interested in improving their understanding of the key issues of the day through active questioning, debate, and discussion. The founders named their new school The New School for Social Research.
Over the years, The New School for Social Research, now formally named The New School, grew into an urban university with seven colleges. The university is enriched by the diversity of its students, who represent a wide range of ages, social backgrounds, aspirations, perspectives, interests, and talents.
The courses offered by The New School at first reflected the founders’ interest in the emerging social sciences, international affairs, history, and philosophy. Faculty members and visiting scholars included Harold Lasky, Franz Boas, and John Maynard Keynes. Soon, the school added courses in drama and literature, followed by classes in writing, performing arts, fine arts, foreign languages, media studies, and information processing.
Some of the finest minds of the 20th century developed pioneering courses at The New School. In 1948, W.E.B. DuBois taught the first course in African-American history and culture ever taught at a university. Around the same time, Margaret Mead taught courses in anthropology and Karen Horney and Erich Fromm introduced their new approaches to psychoanalysis. The New School’s groundbreaking courses attracted students from around the world, including young Shimon Peres. In 1962, Gerda Lerner offered the first university-level course in women’s history.
The New School also became known internationally for courses in the creative arts taught by some of the 20th century’s most innovative artists. Among them were Martha Graham, Frank Lloyd Wright, Aaron Copland, and W.H. Auden. The New School was the first American university to teach the history of film and one of the first to offer college-level courses in photography and jazz.
As the timeline above reveals, The New School has evolved continuously through the years in response to changes in the marketplace of ideas, career opportunities, and human curiosity. Formed in 1919 to challenge the intellectual and artistic status quo, this institution continues to redefine higher education almost a century later.
Each of The New School’s colleges occupies a special place in the history of higher education.
L'inclusion ou non du Sud global dans un scenario décroissant est sujet à de nombreux débats. Car cela implique de penser les dépendances économiques, le risque d'être néocolonial et la dette écologique.
Biden speaks to reporters about the tentative accord.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
The deal would raise the ceiling for two years, cap some federal spending and impose new work requirements on certain federal benefits. It still needs the blessing of Congress.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doesn’t want to look back in anger over a debt deadline missed.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to raise the debt ceiling – and avoid an unprecedented US default – but only if Democrats agree to freeze spending and agree to several other demands.
More EV charging hookups in public locations like garages and parking lots would prompt more drivers of color to buy EVs.
Extreme Media via Getty Images
Reducing air pollution from cars and light trucks would pay big health dividends for low-income and minority communities. A new survey shows how to get more drivers of color into electric vehicles.
Government benefits can reduce child poverty.
DBenitostock/Moment via Getty Images
A tax credit expansion played a big role in child poverty reduction. But the government’s failure to reach all eligible Americans meant many families never got that temporary benefit.
A new EV schoolbus from an all-electric fleet parked beside charging stations at South El Monte High School in California, Aug. 18, 2021.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
They look like conventional school buses, but electric versions are cleaner, quieter and cheaper to maintain. States, utilities and federal agencies are helping school districts make the switch.
These funds help people stay out of jail while awaiting trial.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The median amount of cash bail is $10,000 – an immense sum for people living in poverty. Bail funds, unlike bail bondsmen, don’t charge high fees.
Most carbon dioxide captured in the U.S. today is used to extract more oil.
Citizens of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
California and other states plan to build more homes in an effort to fix America’s affordable housing problem. But that’s not the main reason housing remains unaffordable for millions of people.
Businesses tend to value profit over people and planet. Climate change is forcing them to evolve.
elenabs via Getty Images
Publicly, companies have been paying more attention to social and environmental issues, but their priority remains profit. Climate change is forcing an evolution, a business strategy expert writes.
The sky’s not always the limit.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Electric cars offer benefits for low-income and minority drivers, including cleaner air and lower maintenance costs. But it will take more than rebates on new models to make EVs accessible for all.
Protesters demanding a freeze on rents in Minneapolis.
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via Getty Images
Current measures prohibiting the eviction of tenants and helping them through the financial crisis won’t last forever. A 40-year-old voucher program might be a longer term solution.
A large portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Jan. 27, 2020.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
Every year the US burns more than 34 million tons of garbage in incinerators. These plants are major pollution sources, and most are clustered in disadvantaged communities.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson argues his housing reforms would increase self-sufficiency.
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
The administration’s proposed changes to a decades-old housing program supporting the poorest Americans would jack up rents and deepen poverty in the US.
A trash truck discharges solid waste at the South East Reserve Recovery Facility’s refuse storage pit in Long Beach, California, August 24, 2010.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Most Americans don’t want incinerators in their neighborhoods, so waste management companies are burning trash in other facilities such as cement kilns. Is this a sustainable way to deal with garbage?
Interrogatoire de police, des heures durant.
Shutterstock
Un innocent qui s’accuse d’un crime qu’il n’a pas commis. Un cauchemar plus fréquent qu’on ne le croit. Mais comment en arrive-t-on à de faux aveux ? Les réponses de psychologues expérimentateurs.
Innocence puts you at risk in an interrogation room.
Interrogation image via www.shutterstock.com.
Innocent people do confess to terrible crimes they had nothing to do with. Psychologists are investigating factors that contribute to false confession – including how well-rested a suspect feels.