Columbia University is an independent, privately supported, nonsectarian institution of higher education. Its official corporate name is “The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.” Academic activity at the University is primarily organized through its Faculties and departments of instruction. To direct instruction and research that cross departmental and Faculty lines, the University establishes administrative boards, institutes, centers, laboratories, and interdepartmental programs. Affiliated with the University, but corporately separate, are other educational institutions, hospitals, and research institutes. The University’s main campus is situated on Morningside Heights in Manhattan. The Columbia University Medical Center is located two and a half miles north in Washington Heights. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory occupies a separate estate in Palisades, in Rockland County, New York, and the Nevis Laboratories are located in Irvington, in Westchester County, New York. The University also maintains an educational facility at Reid Hall in Paris, France. This section of the Handbook describes the organization and governance of the University. It begins... by describing the documents that govern the University’s structure and operations and then discusses the powers of the Trustees, the University Senate, and the officers who form the central administration. It concludes with a description of the University’s academic structure and the responsibilities of the officers who direct its primary academic units.