Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts


Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, commonly referred to as Lang, is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School. It is located on-campus in Greenwich Village in New York City on West 11th Street off 6th Avenue.

History

Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts was founded as the Freshman Year Program at The New School in 1972 as a pre-college program for high school graduates. Three years later, in 1975, the program was expanded to a full undergraduate program and renamed The Seminar College. In 1985, following a generous donation by a well-known philanthropist and educational visionary Eugene Lang and his wife Theresa, the school was renamed Eugene Lang College. The college currently has an enrollment of over 1,345 students.
In 2005, the phrase "The New School" was inserted into the name of each division of The New School as part of a unification strategy initiated by the University's President Bob Kerrey; thus, Eugene Lang College was renamed Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts. In 2015, The New School rebranded again by renaming the schools to better clarify the relationship between the university and its schools. Eugene Lang College's formal title is The New School's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts.

Curriculum

Academics

The only required classes are an introductory course on New York City, taught from the perspective of the relation of philosophy to the physical; two lecture hall courses; and two semesters of Writing the Essay for first-year students. These intensive writing classes – part composition class and part linguistics – have titles such as "Going Underground," "What's Love Got to Do With It?," "Comedy as Critique," and "Cruel Shoes: A Trek Through the Absurd." Students are encouraged to tailor the program to their own interests and academic goals.
Eugene Lang College hosts some of The New School's most experimental and avant-garde courses, including: "Heterodox Identities", "NYC: Graphic Gotham", "Mind-Games and Puzzle Films", "The Illusion of Color", "Punk & Noise", "Masculinity in Asia," "Queer Culture", "Theories of Mind", and "Play and Toil in the Digital Sweatshop".

Majors

Lang offers the following majors, and degree programs as of 2013:
Lang also offers the following minors:
The college places emphasis on interdisciplinary learning with a "student-directed" curriculum. All of its courses are seminars. Students at Lang may also cross-register for courses sponsored by other divisions of The New School, especially Parsons School of Design and the School of Drams's new BFA program. Students are allowed to double-major and apply for the university's honors program.

Student publications

Several of The New School's major publications are produced by Lang students. Among these are:

Alumni

In some college ranking programs, The New School's eight divisions are ranked separately, since their attributes and standards of admission differ significantly.
The Princeton Review ranks Eugene Lang among "America's 371 Best Colleges" and the "Best Northeastern Colleges.". Miriam Weinstein also cites the Eugene Lang division in her book, Making a Difference Colleges: Distinctive Colleges to Make a Better World. Lang has also appeared on The Princeton Review's following national lists:
For the past few years, Eugene Lang has consistently ranked at the top of the nation's "Class Discussions Encouraged" list. This can most likely be attributed to its seminar-style academics.