Syracuse University is an American private university. The main campus is located in Syracuse, New York, and shares space with the nearby SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The school also owns a Sheraton Hotel and previously owned a golf course near the campus, as well as properties in New York City and Washington, D.C. It had a total 2004-2005 enrollment  of 18,247 students: 12,268 undergraduates, 5,181 graduates, and 798 law students.

SU was chartered in 1870 as a Methodist-Episcopal institution, but opened one year later as a non-denominational school. Its motto is "Suos Cultores Scientia Coronat," which is Latin for "Knowledge crowns those who seek her." The school's official color is orange, which was adopted in 1890.

The school's independent student newspaper is The Daily Orange , which was founded in 1903 and indepedent since 1971. It also has two radio stations: WAER-FM, a NPR affiliate, and WERW-AM, a student-run station, as well as the largest and oldest Student Run TV station in the country, HillTV 

On December 21, 1988, thirty-five SU students were killed in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The students were returning from a study-abroad program in Europe. That evening, Syracuse University went on with a basketball game. The university was severely criticized for going on with the game, just hours after the attack. After the September 11 attacks, the NCAA took no chances in cancelling all sports events, understanding the criticism mounted upon the university for going on with a sports event after the bombing of Flight 103.

The school later dedicated a memorial to the students killed on Flight 103 in the center of the campus. Every year, during the fall semester, the university has something called "Remembrance Week," to remember the students. Every December 21, a service is held in the university's chapel by the university's chaplains at 2:03 p.m. (19:03 UTC), marking the moment in 1988 the plane was bombed. The service features a procession to the memorial.

After the retirement of Chancellor Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw at the end of the 2003 school year, the university named Nancy Cantor as its 11th Chancellor and President. Cantor was also named as Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, and is the university's first female chancellor. Prior to coming to Syracuse, she was the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.