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Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college situated in Poughkeepsie. Formerly a women's college, Vassar is one of the Seven Sisters.
The college was founded by its namesake, Matthew Vassar, in 1861 in the scenic Hudson Valley, approximately 70 miles (100 km) north of New York City. Vassar is often praised for its beautiful campus, a 1000 acre (4 km²) lot of land marked by period and modern buildings that is also an arboretumAn arboretum is a botanical garden primarily devoted to trees and other woody plants, forming a living collection of trees intended at least partly for scientific study. An arboretum specialising in growing conifers is known as a pinetum. The term 'arbore. The great majority of students live on campus. Founded as an all-female college, it went co-ed in 1969 after declining an offer to merge with YaleYale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third oldest American collegiate institution (or fourth, if St. John's College, Annapolis is included) and one of the most prestigious in the world. The Univer. Since that time, it has maintained its reputation as one of America's outstanding liberal arts colleges, and is especially noted for its tolerant social atmosphere. The newly renovated library has unusually large holdings for a college of its size.
Today over two thousand students attend Vassar, including many international students. They are taught by over two hundred faculty members.
1 Trivia
- The school's 23 Division III sports teams are known as the Brewers. They are named for Matthew Vassar's occupation.
- John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy ( May 29, 1917 November 22, 1963), often referred to as Jack Kennedy or JFK was the 35th ( 1961 1963) President of the United States. He was the youngest ever to be elected president and the youngest president ever to die in office reputedly visited Vassar a number of times while he was an undergraduate at Harvard. (This would have been a decade before Jackie went there, however.) Mary Meyer , a woman known to have been a mistress of Kennedy while he was President, was a Vassar graduate. She was murdered under mysterious circumstances in 1964.
- The original colors of the college were pink and grey, intended to symbolize "the rose of sunlight breaking through the gray of women's intellectual life." After Vassar became coeducational, the pink was darkened to rose.
- The Group , a controversial novel by Mary McCarthy class of ’33, follows the lives of 8 Vassar graduates. Very little of the book, though, actually takes place at Vassar. It was made into a movie by Sidney LumetSidney Lumet (born 1924) is a famous American Hollywood director, with over 50 films to his name, including the critically acclaimed Network (1976). Filmography (incomplete) The Fugitive Kind (1959) Long Day's Journey into Night (1962) The Pawnbroker (196, released in 1966.
- The opening flyby in the movie The Muppets Take ManhattanThe Muppets Take Manhattan (1984 is one of a series of popular live-action feature films featuring the famous Muppets, a product of Jim Henson and his Creature Workshop. The Muppets bring a successful college show to New York City with the hopes of making is over the Vassar campus. Vassar is also mentioned in the films MoonrakerMoonraker is both a James Bond book by Ian Fleming first published in 1955, and a 1979 movie adapted from the book. The title comes from "moonraker," a synonym for moonsail, the highest sail carried by sailing ships. It is the eleventh official James Bond and SabrinaSabrina is the ancient name of the English River Severn as well as the goddess of that river in Insular Brythonic mythology. Sabrina is the title of an American comedy movie produced in 1954 and later remade in 1995. The story was originally written by Sa, among others.
- Vassar has a world class art collection. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is run as a independent museum and is open to the public.
- The campus is a registered aboretum. There are over 200 tree species spread over 100 acres (400,000 m²) of forest land.
- Main Building is a nationally registered historic landmark.
- Except for one all-female dormitory, all of the student resident halls at Vassar are co-ed and have co-ed bathrooms.
- Following World War II Vassar enrolled a total of 152 veterans as part of the G.I. Bill of Rights.
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