Cornell University and the Cornell Police are dedicated to providing a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, and staff. For more information, please see the Annual Security Report and Annual Fire Safety Report webpages.

Cornell University is a four-year institution offering nearly 80 majors, 100 academic departments, and more than 4,000 courses of study. Cornell is both a privately endowed research university and the federal land-grant institution in New York State. We have a responsibility - unique within the Ivy League - to make contributions in all fields of knowledge in a manner that prioritizes public engagement to help improve the quality of life in our state, the nation, and the world.

Please visit the HEOA Disclosures webpage to find consumer information for prospective Cornell University students.

Officially, Cornell does not have a mascot. However, generations of Cornellians have come to know and love the Big Red Bear as Cornell’s unofficial mascot. Early in the school’s athletic history, a bear took over as its most recognizable symbol. Named “Touchdown,” the first live Cornell bear appeared in 1915 during Cornell's undefeated and national championship football season. Enthusiastic Big Red Bear-loving undergraduates don the fuzzy uniform and perform at various official Cornell celebrations and varsity athletic events, including at all football games.

Cornell University was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White and opened its doors in 1868. Cornell is the federal land-grant institution of New York State, a private endowed university, a member of the Ivy League/Ancient Eight, and a partner of the State University of New York (SUNY). Cornell has been described as the first truly American university because of its founders' revolutionarily egalitarian and practical vision of higher education, and is dedicated to its land-grant mission of outreach and public service.

Ezra Cornell, one of the founders of Cornell University, once said, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” In keeping with this dynamic vision, Cornell students immerse themselves in both the liberal and the practical/applied arts and sciences. This rich complement of studies is at the heart of the Cornell academic experience. From business to electrical engineering, from American history to hotel management, at Cornell students have the freedom to explore and study what interests them most.

Accreditation in higher education is a process of external quality review to scrutinize colleges, universities, and educational programs for quality assurance and quality improvement. In the United States, accreditation is carried out through private, nonprofit organizations designed for this specific purpose. Cornell is accredited through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the accrediting agency for educational institutions in the mid-Atlantic region recognized by the federal government.

Founded in 1880, The Cornell Daily Sun is the oldest continuously independent college daily newspaper in the country. It is staffed almost entirely by Cornell students, operating out of an office building in downtown Ithaca. The Cornell Daily Sun is free on newsstands and available online, providing the Cornell community with all of the latest campus news.

Cornell is unique: Although it's an Ivy League university, chartered as a private institution, it includes undergraduate colleges and schools that receive some funding from New York State. They are sometimes called state contract colleges. The state subsidy results in lower tuition for students who have New York State residency and are enrolled in these colleges or schools. The state-assisted colleges and schools are:

Cornell University’s colors are carnelian red and white. Cornell's first association with its signature colors was the red felt banner bearing hand-cut white letters spelling “Cornell University" used during the October 7, 1868 inauguration of the university and its first president, Andrew Dickson White. The nickname "Big Red" for Cornell teams originated in 1905.

Visit the The Cornell Experience page for more information.