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Cornell University

Carl Becker House

Becker House History

Carl Becker House is the second of five houses on West Campus that are part of the Residential Initiative at Cornell University. The House was named in honor of Cornell faculty member Carl Lotus Becker (September 7, 1873 - April 10, 1945).

Carl L. Becker

Carl L. Becker standing outside, on grass, one knee slightly bent, trees in background.

Carl Becker was a distinguished professor of American and European history (1917-1941), known for his inspirational teaching. A prolific writer, his works were influential at every level - from the highest echelons of the academy to secondary-school classrooms. He captured the spirit of the university with a phrase that has become a Cornell trademark: freedom and responsibility. (Becker's landmark book in which he expounds on this ideal is available online through the Cornell Library.) 

Carl Becker will forever be remembered for the impact he had as a teacher, his eminence as a scholar and for his distinguished service to the university in his role as University Historian.

To learn more about legendary faculty member Carl L. Becker read Faculty Legends: Carl Becker & Ethel Waring and One role of a professor is to 'think otherwise,' says LaFeber. 

Becker House Crest

Carl Becker House

The Becker House crest uses elements drawing primarily from ideas of the house’s namesake Carl L. Becker with a nod to the house’s first House Professor/Dean. 

The robed figure is Clio, the muse of history. She was chosen because Carl Becker served as the John Wendell Anderson Professor of History in the Department of History at Cornell University from 1917 to 1941. She is flanked by two daffodils, referring to the daffodils planted by students annually around Becker House to honor Becker House’s founding House Professor/Dean, Cindy Hazan.

The motto featured on the green banner across the crest reads, “Freedom and Responsibility.” This was a key theme that Becker discussed: particularly in reference to university education and citizenship more broadly. We maintain it as an inspiration in our community building.

The base of the crest includes what looks like a woodcut of a medieval walled city. This is a reference to “the heavenly city of the eighteenth-century philosophers” which is one of the central tenets of Becker’s view of history and the name of one of his best-known books.