State University of New York at New Paltz

Old Main, the oldest building on campus

The university's origins can be traced back to the New Paltz Classical School, which originally opened in 1828. After changing its name to the New Paltz Academy in 1833, the school was decimated by a fire in 1884, after which the school offered their land to the state government of New York contingent upon the establishment of a normal school.

In 1885, one year after the fire, the New Paltz Normal and Training School, or New Paltz Normal School, was established to prepare teachers to practice their professions in the public schools of New York. It was granted the ability to award baccalaureate degrees in 1938, after which it was renamed as the State Teachers College at New Paltz; the inaugural class of 112 students graduated in 1942. In 1947, a graduate program in education was established.

When the State University of New York was established by legislative act in 1948, the Teachers College at New Paltz was one of 30 colleges associated under SUNY's umbrella. An art education program was added in 1951. The school experienced another name change in 1959, becoming the State University College of Education at New Paltz. One year later, in 1960, the college was authorized to confer liberal arts degrees. Just one year after that, in 1961, the school updated its name yet again, to the State University of New York College of Arts and Science at New Paltz.

There were several student-led demonstrations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily against the Vietnam War. In the spring of 1967, a sit-in protesting military recruitment on campus blocked the entrance to the Student Union for two days. While there were scores of demonstrators the first day, all but 13 dispersed before New York State Troopers arrived and bodily carried the demonstrators to a waiting school bus for a trip to court. In the fall of 1968, students rallied in support of Craig Pastor (now Craig DeYong) who had been arrested by New Paltz Village Police for desecration of the American flag which he was wearing as a superhero cape in a student film directed by Edward Falco. College President John J. Neumaier posted bail. Pastor was released and charges were dropped.

The Cambodian Campaign and concomitant Kent State shootings in May 1970 led to a protest that culminated in a five-day student occupation of the Administration Building, subsequently renamed Old Main after the opening of the Haggerty Administration Building two years later. A March 1974 sit-in at the Haggerty Building reacted against perceived discriminatory hiring practices, the state-mandated reintegration of Shango Hall (which then housed underrepresented students), and the threatened cessation of the experimental studies program in the wake of a budget shortfall.[7]

Van den Berg Hall is the second-oldest building on campus. Today it is the home to the business program.

Amid this tumult, the college's general education program (including then-vanguard introductory surveys of African and Asian cultures) was eliminated in 1971; a distribution requirement was re-instituted in 1993. A program in African American studies was established in 1968. Three years later, the experimental studies program (reorganized as the innovative studies program in 1975) began to enroll students, instructors, and local residents in credited and cocurricular courses that encompassed myriad disciplines, including video art (under Paul Ryan), dance therapy, clowning, camping, and ecodesign. Instructors in the program were hired by students and compensated through student activity fees. A 4-acre (1.6 ha) environmental studies site operated by students and community members under the aegis of the program at the southern periphery of the campus included geodesic domes, windmills, kilns, a solar-powered house funded by the Department of Energy, and more inchoate variants of sustainable architecture. Upon ascending to the college presidency in 1980, Alice Chandler characterized the edifices as "shacks and hovels" and abolished the program in the early 1980s, demolishing most of the site in the process.[8]

Under Chandler's leadership, the college began to offer professional degree programs in nursing, engineering, journalism, and accounting.[9] The Legislative Gazette, a journalism and political science internship in which students live and work in Albany and produce a weekly newspaper about state politics, was established in 1978.

The pond, with Esopus Hall in the background

On December 29, 1991, the campus was the scene of a widely reported PCB incident that contaminated four dormitories (Bliss, Gage, Capen and Scudder halls), as well as the Coykendall Science Building and Parker Theatre. Under the direction of the county and state health departments, the university began a massive, thorough cleanup effort. As an additional precaution, 29 other buildings were thoroughly tested and, if necessary, cleaned. The clean-up process lasted until May 1995. Since 1994, PCBs have not been used on the SUNY New Paltz campus.[10]

The college was rebranded as the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1994.[11]

In November 1997, two events on campus attracted nationwide media attention. The first, a feminist conference on sex and sexuality sponsored by the women's studies department entitled "Revolting Behavior: The Challenges of Women's Sexual Freedom", featured an instructional workshop on sex toys offered by a Manhattan sex shop proprietor and a lecture panel on sadomasochism ("Safe, Sane and Consensual S/M: An Alternate Way of Loving").[12] The second, a seminar entitled "Subject to Desire: Refiguring the Body", was sponsored by the School of Fine and Performing Arts. One presenter, Fluxus performance artist and longtime New Paltz resident Carolee Schneemann, was best known for Interior Scroll (1975), a piece that culminated in her unrolling a scroll from her vagina and reading it to the audience; at the seminar, Schneemann exhibited[13] abstract photographs of her vagina as part of Vulva's Morphia (1995), "a visceral sequence of photographs and text in which a Vulvic personification presents an ironic analysis juxtaposing slides and text to undermine Lacanian semiotics, gender issues, Marxism, the male art establishment, religious and cultural taboos."[14]

The Excelsior Concourse, one of the busiest parts of campus

Political conservatives were outraged that a public university had hosted such events, and Governor George Pataki and SUNY chancellor Robert King expressed their displeasure. The controversy escalated when the theatre arts department staged The Vagina Monologues shortly afterwards. The college's then-president, Roger Bowen, defended freedom of expression on campus and refused to apologize, doing little to allay conservative ire. "The real issue," he said, "is whether some ideologues, however well-intentioned, have the right to dictate what we say and what we do on this campus." SUNY trustee Candace de Russy called for him to be dismissed.[15] Bowen later resigned.[16]

In 2023, the institution was officially reclassified as a university by the State University of New York. The change took effect January 1, 2023, exactly seventy-five years after the SUNY system was founded; New Paltz was a founding member.[17][18]

Atrium of the Student Union Building, opened in 2010

Inside the Atrium

The SUNY New Paltz campus consists of about 216 acres (87 ha) in the small town of New Paltz, New York. There are 14 residence halls, centered mostly in two quads. The main campus has two dozen academic buildings, including the Haggerty Administration Building, a lecture hall, Old Main, Sojourner Truth Library, one main dining hall, the Student Union Building, Science Hall and extensive gymnasium and sports areas.

The college also operated the Ashokan campus in Olivebridge, New York, consisting of another 400 acres (160 ha). In 2008 it was sold by Campus Auxiliary Services to the Open Space Conservancy;[19] it is now operated as the Ashokan Center.

SUNY New Paltz has undergone extensive construction projects since 2008, totaling nearly $300 million,[20] including:

• Renovation of Hasbrouck complex residence halls (ongoing)
• Student Union Building addition: "The Atrium" (completed fall 2010)
• Old Main renovation (completed spring 2011)
• The Concourse landscaping/renovation (completed fall 2011)
• Hasbrouck Quad landscaping/renovation (completed fall 2011)
• Construction of Mohonk Walk (completed summer 2012)
• Ridgeview Hall (completed summer 2015)
• Sojourner Truth Library renovation (completed fall 2015)
• Wooster Science Building renovation (completed summer 2016)
• Construction of Science Hall, a new science building (completed winter 2017)[21]
• Engineering Innovation Hub (completed fall 2019)

Parker Theater

College Hall, home to the Max and Nadia Shepard Recital Hall, and the oldest residence hall on campus

The building was originally built as a dining hall. Parker was then converted to a theatre venue and teaching space. In 1972 it was made into a theatre production facility. The building was renovated in 1994, featuring a modified thrust stage surrounded by a three-quarter audience configuration seating up to 200 people. In the rear are lighting and sound booths with computerized light board (controlling over 90 dimmers) and digital audio equipment. To both sides of the stage are performance studio spaces. Classes are offered in acting, voice, movement, and musical theatre. On the same floor of the theater are a costume studio, dressing rooms, costume maintenance, storage facilities, and faculty offices.[22]

Parker Theatre was built in 1962. It houses the Raymond T. Kurdt Theatrical Design Collection, one of the most significant collections of original costume and set designs in the nation.

Principal's residence, about 1909

SUNY New Paltz alumni include:

• Salvador Agron – "The Capeman," the main figure from the Broadway show The Capeman[37]
• Michael Badalucco – actor[38]
• Yak Ballz – underground rapper born Yashar Zadeh
• David Bernsley (born 1969), American-Israeli basketball player
• Eleonor Bindman (born 1965), American pianist, teacher and recording artist
• Rob Borsellino – reporter[39]
• Kevin Cahill – member of the New York State Assembly[40]
• Regina Calcaterra – author[41]
• Joan Chen – actress
• Scott Cohen – actor
• Murali Coryell – guitarist
• Marco DaSilva - multimedia artist
• Anthony Denison – actor
• Mary Deyo (1887 graduate of normal school) – missionary teacher in Japan
• James Dolan – owner of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden; former CEO of Cablevision
• Chris Eachus – member of the New York State Assembly[42]
• Jessica Faieta – Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Edward Falco – novelist and professor of English at Virginia Tech[43]
• Helen K. Garber – photographer
• Michael J. X. Gladis – actor
• Vinny Guadagnino – Jersey Shore reality show actor[44]
• Maurice Hinchey '68, M.A. '70 – member of the United States House of Representatives
• Vicky Jeudy – actor[45]
• Gary King – university professor of government at Harvard University[46]
• Robert Kyncl – CEO of Warner Music Group
• Kenneth LaValle – member of the New York State Senate
• Christopher Manson – children's book author and illustrator
• Tomas Morales – president of California State University, San Bernardino
• Eileen Moran – visual effects producer and former executive at Weta Digital[47]
• Fabrizio Moretti – drummer for The Strokes
• Alex Luciano – musician, guitarist and songwriter for Diet Cig
• Berhanu Nega – Ethiopian politician
• Ann Nocenti – Marvel Comics editor; journalist[48]
• William Parment – member of the New York State Assembly
• Andrea Peyser – New York Post columnist
• Roseann Runte – president of Old Dominion University
• Ilyasah Shabazz – daughter of Malcolm X; writer
• Andy Shernoff – songwriter, rock musician
• Frank Skartados – member of the New York State Assembly
• Alex Storozynski – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Brianna Titone - geologist and Colorado state representative
• Aida Turturro – actress
• John Turturro – actor[47]
• Jason West – former mayor of the village of New Paltz, New York
• Zach Zarba – NBA official
• Kevin Zraly – wine educator; founder of the Windows on the World Wine School

• Clinton Bennett – adjunct lecturer, religious studies program; authority on Islam
• Jamie Bennett – emeritus professor (1985–2015) of art[49]
• Manuel Bromberg - professor emeritus of art
• Lew Brownstein - historian and former chair of political science and international relations department
• Arthur H. Cash (died 2016) – SUNY Distinguished Professor and professor emeritus of English; authority on Laurence Sterne
• Robert Ebendorf – former professor in the metals department, starting in 1970.[50]
• Vladimir Feltsman – university professor, music department
• Heinz Insu Fenkl – professor of English; novelist, translator and folklorist
• Carol Goodman – adjunct in creative writing; novelist
• Laurence M. Hauptman – distinguished professor of history
• Ray Huang – late professor emeritus of history; authority on the Ming dynasty; author of 1587: a Year of No Significance
• Nancy Kassop - former chair of the political science department
• Chaim Koppelman (1920–2009), American artist, educator, and Aesthetic Realism consultant
• John Langan - instructor of creative writing and gothic literature; author of horror stories, notably the Bram Stoker Award winning novel "The Fisherman"
• Joe Langworth – adjunct, musical theatre
• Kurt Matzdorf – professor emeritus of goldsmithing and silversmith (working from 1957 to 1985); he founded the metals department.[51][52]
• Anthony Robinson – professor emeritus of English and former director of creative writing program
• Harry Schwartz – The New York Times editorial writer, Soviet specialist
• H.R. Stoneback – SUNY distinguished teaching professor and professor of English; authority on Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and Lawrence Durrell
• William Strongin - Rabbi, author, and professor who is currently the director of Jewish Studies

• List of university art museums and galleries in New York State

• Lang, Elizabeth W.; Lang, Robert P. (1960). In a Valley Fair: A History of the State University College of Education at New Paltz. New Paltz, NY: State University of New York. OCLC 4742901.
• Klotzberger, Edward Lewis (1958). The Growth and Development of State Teachers College, New Paltz, State University of New York, with Implications of Education in the State of New York (PhD thesis). University of Connecticut. OCLC 43967254.

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