The university was chartered in 1801 and the main campus remains on the original site. The school has grown to include eight separate campuses and has a total enrollment that exceeds 37,000 students.
The mascot of the sportsteams is the gamecock.
The center of the Columbia campus is known as the Horseshoe and consists of stately buildings dating from the early nineteenth center clustered around the green commons area. At the head of the horseshoe is the McKissick Museum.


