College of Charleston

Motto	Sapientia Ipsa Libertas Ædes Mores Juraque Curat
Motto in English	Wisdom Itself Is Liberty. She Cares for Her Temples, Customs and Rights.
Type	Public liberal arts college
Established	1770; 251 years ago (1770)
Academic affiliations	ORAU, Sea-grant, Space-grant
Endowment	$102.8 million (2020)[1][2]
President	Andrew Hsu
Administrative staff	836
Undergraduates	10,488
Postgraduates	1,454
Location	Charleston , South Carolina , United States
Campus	Urban
Colors	Maroon and white    [3]
Nickname	Cougars
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I – CAA
Mascot	Cougar
Website	cofc.edu
College of Charleston
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Show map of South Carolina Show map of the United States
Location	Glebe, George, St. Philip and Green streets, Charleston, South Carolina
Area	4 acres (1.6 ha)[4]
Built	1827
Architect	Edward B. White; George E. Walker
Architectural style	Early Republic
NRHP reference No.	71000748
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 11, 1971[5]
Designated NHL	November 11, 1971[6]

The College of Charleston (also known as CofC or Charleston) is a public liberal arts college in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest college in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, and the oldest municipal college in the country. The founders of the college include three future signers of the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Heyward Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge), and three future signers of the United States Constitution (Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Rutledge).

History

The College of Charleston was founded in 1770 making it the 13th oldest institution of higher education and oldest municipal college in the United States.^[11][12]

Albert Simons Center for the Arts

Communication buildings

Organization

The College of Charleston consists of six academic schools, as well as the Honors College and the Graduate School of the University of Charleston, S.C.

• The School of the Arts
• The School of Business
• The School of Education, Health, and Human Performance
• The School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• The School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs
• The School of Sciences and Mathematics
• The Honors College
• The Graduate School of the University of Charleston, S.C.

Porters Lodge

Campus

Randolph Hall is the college's main academic building and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The College of Charleston's main campus in downtown Charleston includes 11 residence halls, 19 historic homes, five fraternity houses and nine sorority houses. It contains a mix of modern and historic buildings. The College of Charleston downtown campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, the Avery Institute, which is now the home to the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, and the William Blacklock House are also listed individually on the register.

Outside of downtown Charleston, the college campus includes the Grice Marine Lab on James Island, the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Center and the Patriots Point Athletic Complex in Mount Pleasant, the North Campus in North Charleston and the 881-acre (357 ha) Stono Preserve.^[13]

In 2014, the college was ranked as one of the top 10 best landscaped colleges on the east coast.^[14] In 2017, Travel + Leisure magazine named the college "America's Most Beautiful College Campus."^[15]

The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History is a public natural history museum located on the campus. The museum has more than 30,000 vertebrate and invertebrate fossils. The collection's focus is on the paleontology of North American mammals, and specifically the South Carolina Lowcountry.^[16]

College of Charleston and the media

Several movies and television shows have been filmed at the College of Charleston, including General Hospital, North and South, The View, Cold Mountain, The Patriot, White Squall, Wife Swap, O, The Notebook, Dear John, and Mandie.^{[citation needed]}

The View and CNN's Crossfire also took up residence on the College of Charleston Cistern Yard before the South Carolina presidential primary in 2000.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, the first televised debate between U.S. Senate candidates Jim DeMint and Inez Tenenbaum was filmed in Alumni Hall.^{[citation needed]}

John Kerry officially endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the Cistern Yard in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, the television show Army Wives and the feature film The New Daughter, was filmed.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, Today with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb did a live show from the Cistern.^{[citation needed]}

Bully Pulpit Series

The Bully Pulpit Series is hosted jointly by the College of Charleston's Departments of Political Science and Communication. The series welcomes presidential candidates from the two major political parties to the campus. Candidates speak with students and Charleston community members on such topics as the frequency of press conferences, the candidate's relationship with journalists and the power of the president to persuade.^{[citation needed]} Major candidates that appeared during the 2008 Presidential primaries included Senator John McCain, Congressman Ron Paul, President Barack Obama and Senator John Edwards. During that season, the series was sponsored by the Allstate Insurance Company and attendance on the Bully Pulpit events drew over 6,000 attendees.^[17] During the 2016 Presidential primaries, the major candidates who participated in the series included Senator Lindsey Graham and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley.^{[citation needed]}The series hosted a slew of candidates during the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. The candidates who appeared were: Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Representative Beto O'Rourke, Secretary Julian Castro, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Bernie Sanders, former vice president and eventual nominee Joe Biden, and Representative Tulsi Gabbard.^[18]

Athletics

The college's 19 varsity sports teams participate in the NCAA Division I Colonial Athletic Association and are known as the Cougars. The Cougars compete at a variety of athletics facilities in the Charleston area, including the TD Arena (formerly the Carolina First Arena),^[19] the J. Stewart Walker Sailing Complex, Johnson Center Squash Courts, Patriots Point Athletic Complex and the Links at Stono Ferry. College of Charleston athletics are supported by the Cougar Club, which was established in 1974. During the 1970–71 school year, College of Charleston students voted to change the school nickname from the Maroons to the Cougars, in honor of a cougar that had recently arrived at the Charles Towne Landing zoo. Clyde the Cougar is the college's current mascot.^[20]

Greek life

Greek life has been active on campus for 120 years. In 2017, four fraternities were shut down by the college for alcohol, drugs and a sexual assault.^[21]