American University (AU) is a private United Methodist-affiliated university in Washington, D.C., U.S., the main campus of which comes to a corner at the intersection of Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues at Ward Circle, straddling the Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, and American University Park neighborhoods of Northwest. Roughly 6,000 undergraduate students and 4,000 graduate students are currently enrolled. Though there is sometimes confusion, American University is separate from most "American Universities" around the world.

It is served by the Tenleytown-AU station on the Washington Metro subway line, which is located roughly one mile from the main campus in the neighborhood of Tenleytown. AU is a member of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, allowing students to enroll in courses offered by other member institutions and students at other member institutions to enroll in courses at AU. A member of the Division I Patriot League, its sports teams compete as the American University Eagles.

History

Founding

American University traces its history to a letter written by George Washington, in which he expressed a desire for a "national university" to be located in the nation's capital. The university was established in the District of Columbia by an Act of Congress on February 24, 1893 primarily due to the efforts of Methodist Bishop John Fletcher Hurst. It is one of only two universities in the nation, the other being the George Washington University, to be chartered by an act of Congress, and thus have the seal of Congress appear on its diplomas. Bishop Hurst and his colleagues were concerned with building an institution that would meld the strengths of the best German universities with the strengths of the existing university system in America. As their plans developed during the early years, they began to conceive of American University as an institution that would be:

• A privately supported university financed principally by the membership of the churches, particularly the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had been the founders of many of the colleges and universities in the early years of American history.
• An internationally minded institution where scholars from across the nation and from throughout the world would gather to dedicate their combined efforts to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge.
• A center of higher education and research activities that, while independent of the government, would draw freely on the intellectual and scientific resources of the Nation's Capital to supplement and to extend its own capabilities.
• An institution that would contribute to the general cultural life and development of the capital in much the same manner that state-supported universities in other world capitals contributed to their communities.