Q 01/05

Which Midtown Manhattan landmark stands on land that Columbia University owned until 1985?

A) Empire State Building

B) Rockefeller Center

C) Grand Central Terminal

D) Chrysler Building

Answer · why

B) Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center rose on land that Columbia leased out in 1928 and that had once held America's first public botanical garden. The university finall...

Q 02/05

Which future US president graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a degree in political science?

A) Bill Clinton

B) George W. Bush

C) Barack Obama

D) Joe Biden

Answer · why

C) Barack Obama

Barack Obama transferred to Columbia as a junior in 1981 after two years at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He lived off campus on West 109th Stree...

Q 03/05

Which Hollywood studio's logo did former Columbia student Howard Dietz base on his old university's mascot?

A) Paramount Pictures

B) Twentieth Century Fox

C) Universal Pictures

D) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Answer · why

D) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer inherited its lion from Goldwyn Pictures, where Dietz picked the animal in 1916 as a tribute to Columbia, whose teams are still ca...

Q 04/05

Which 1990s sitcom filmed the outside of Tom's Restaurant, a diner in a Columbia University building?

A) Friends

B) Seinfeld

C) Mad About You

D) Frasier

Answer · why

B) Seinfeld

Seinfeld used the diner's exterior as Monk's Café, later cropping the neon sign so that only the word Restaurant showed. The diner sits on the ground ...

Q 05/05

Which 1984 comedy filmed scenes at Columbia University on condition that the school was never named on screen?

A) Gremlins

B) Police Academy

C) Ghostbusters

D) Sixteen Candles

Answer · why

C) Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters used Columbia's Havemeyer Hall as Weaver Hall, the fictional home of the lab its three scientists are thrown out of.