[Syracuse football player, full-length, standing, facing front, with Syracuse University behind him] / Mae Goodelle Chaffee.

Syracuse University roots can be traced to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary (later becoming Genesee College), founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lima, New York, in 1831. After several years of debate over relocating the college to Syracuse, the university was established in 1870, independent of the college. Since 1920, the university has identified itself as nonsectarian although it maintains a relationship with The United Methodist Church. Syracuse men and women were taught together in the same courses, and many extra-curricular activities were coeducational as well. In the College of Liberal Arts, the ratio between male and female students was approximately even. The College of Fine Arts was predominantly female. Syracuse also developed "women-only" organizations and clubs.