Founders College was the first college established on the Keele campus and it is proud of the part that its Fellows and students have played in the development of York University. The theme of Founders College is “Self, Culture and Society”, which reflects the special interests of the college in the disciplines of anthropology, French studies, Italian studies, history and environmental studies, as well as its strong commitment to internationalism and contemporary issues. Founders College supports and houses African Studies, East Asian Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, South Asian Studies and International Development Studies. Founders has a special affiliation with the undergraduate program of the School of Women's Studies and provides extensive women’s studies facilities.

The Fellows of Founders are chiefly professors from a number of different departments who have come together to support the college’s goals, but they also include administrators and external people such as journalists, writers and artists. Over 40 of the academic Fellows have their offices in the college and are available for interaction with Founders students. The Fellows, with the students, are the lifeblood of the community Fellows of the college are active in many ways, especially in fostering their academic interests in an interdisciplinary environment, mounting cocurricular events such as seminars and conferences, and participating in the strong advising program for student members of the college, under the direction of an academic adviser. A rich network of peer advising including student academic resource advisers, is operated by the academic adviser for the benefit of all Founders students.

The following program-related groups are associated with the college: History Students Association, the African Students Association, the East Asian Studies Students Association at York, the Caribbean Students Association and the Anthropology Students Association. Founders College also houses the East Asian Studies Jerome Ch’en Reading Room, which has recently expanded to include a large collection of Chinese-language texts; the Nellie Langford Rowell Women’s Studies Library (also recently enlarged, with a bigger focus on its international collection); the Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies and the Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora. The college organizes and supports a variety of activities related to the arts, including art exhibitions in the Arthur Haberman Art Gallery. The gallery, the Reading and Listening Room, the Addiction Cyber Cafe are amongst the excellent array of academic and social facilities managed by the Founders College Student Council and available for commuter as well as residence students. The college also has an attractive assembly hall, newly renovated large junior common room and a historic pub, renamed the Bull Pub. An annual festival of the art, Poiesis, involves students and Fellows in a competition including painting, sculpture, photography, poetry and music. Lectures and colloquia are regularly offered in a wide variety of academic and cultural areas associated with the college. Finally, Founders is home to Canada’s most prestigious popular/academic feminist journal, Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme.

The college is governed by the master, the academic adviser and the residence life coordinator, assisted by an office staff headed by the administrative assistant and by a variety of committees involving Fellows and students. A student council, Founders College Student Council (FCSC), administers an important budget derived from an annual operating grant, organizes a variety of programs and manages services and enterprises in the college.

The college encourages in its students both active participation in college life and academic excellence, an internship program that places 11 students with programs and units in the college, each supported by the College at Life (CLAY) program. Founders College tries to remain faithful to what is best in the collegial tradition - hard study, stimulating interaction between Fellows and students and a lively community spirit.