Happened to look at NYU’s motto today.
It’s pretty nice!
Perstare et praestare in Latin which means to “persevere and excel”
I’m sure that there are other great mottos out there. What are your favorites?
YSR - Yea, Sewanee’s Right!
Ringling College of Art and Design–Shattering the Myth of the Starving Artist!
New College of Florida–“There is more to running a starship than answering a bunch of damn fool questions.”
Let it all hang out at Evergreen State College.
To be, rather than to seem at a couple of schools.
If I was making one up–“Finding the force”.
Princeton’s motto is “Dei Sub Numine Viget”, which means “under God’s power she flourishes”, but is often translated as “God went to Princeton”.
Veritas. Modest . . . .
The unofficial motto of Reed is “Communism, Atheism, Free Love” – according to wikipedia, it was a label that the Reed community claimed from critics during the 1920s as a “tongue-in-cheek slogan” in reference to Reed’s nonconformism. I’m not sure if they have an official motto.
Tufts University Pax et Lux - Peace and Light
UChicago - Crescat Scientia Vita Excolatur - let knowledge grow and life be enriched
I’m biased but I like that one
Clarkson University’s original motto (when it was a tech school) - "“A Workman That Needeth Not to be Ashamed”
http://www.clarkson.edu/about/history.html
Ohio State University:
Disciplina in civitatem (Education for Citizenship)
Actually YSR which I mentioned mentioned above is Sewanee’s cheer. The motto is:
“Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum”, which is taken from the opening of Psalm 133: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”
I always liked Hampshire’s motto:
Non satis scire–to know is not enough
A bit off topic as it never was official, but when I attended Swarthmore the mascot was the “Fighting Quakers” 
It’s now changed.
Cornell University:
“I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”
The University of California system:
Fiat lux - let there be light.
University of Vermont (for those that may not know, UVM is for Universitas Viridis Montis, Latin for “University of the Green Mountains”):
“Studiis et Rebus Honestis” (for studies and other honest pursuits)
U of Wisconsin has “Numen Lumen” I guess- no idea what that is supposed to mean, it was on my diploma along with a stylized eye. I do know there is a plaque on some building with the “sifting and winnowing” of ideas phrase. THAT I get. There is also “The Wisconsin Idea”… But- who knows what is happening now with budget cuts et al.
I’ve always been fond of my alma mater’s motto – Leges sine moribus vanae, which translates to Laws without morals are in vain.