Cooper Union

Student Activities

Peter Cooper thought that the students of his institution could serve New York City as "preeminent examples of all the virtues." To foster this mission, he recommended to the trustees of The Cooper Union that students be given the opportunity to devise "such rules and regulations as they, on mature reflection, shall believe to be necessary and proper." The Cooper Union Code of Conduct (reprinted in the Campus Safety and Security Report) and the Constitution of the Joint Student Council and its subcommittees all derive from the power Peter Cooper originally granted to students. Today, in addition to the work of the Student Councils in all three schools, students run eighty organizations, actively serve on more than thirty subcommittees, and administer the Code of Conduct.

Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.
“My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”
From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.
Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.