Editing University of Chicago (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of the University of Chicago}}

===Old University of Chicago===
{{further|Old University of Chicago}}
[[File:Uchicago convocation 1894.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|[[Albert A. Michelson]], Professor of Physics and first American Nobel laureate, delivers the second [[Convocation]] Address in front of Goodspeed and Gates-Blake Halls, with President [[William Rainey Harper]], professors, and trustees in attendance, July 1, 1894.<ref>{{cite web |title=Convocations : Photographic Archive : The University of Chicago |url=http://photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf3-00416.xml |website=photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu |publisher=University of Chicago Library |access-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-date=October 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025005012/http://photoarchive.lib.uchicago.edu/db.xqy?one=apf3-00416.xml |url-status=live}}</ref>]]The first University of Chicago was founded by a small group of [[Baptists in the United States|Baptist]] educators in 1856 through a land endowment from Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]]. It closed in 1886 after years of financial struggle and a final ''[[annus horribilis]]'' in which the campus was badly damaged by fire and the school was foreclosed on by its creditors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Agreement Between Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Burroughs (1856), Folder 2, Box 3, Old University of Chicago Records, Special Collections, University of Chicago. |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/olduofc-0002-002.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905081325/https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/olduofc-0002-002.pdf |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |access-date=June 26, 2017 |website=UChicago.edu}}</ref> Several years later, its trustees elected to change the school's name to the "[[Old University of Chicago]]" so that a new school could go by the name of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guide to the Old University of Chicago Records 1856-1890 |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.OLDUOFC |access-date=September 21, 2017 |website=www.lib.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref>

===Early years===
{{EB1911 poster|Chicago, University of|the founding and early years}}
In 1890, the [[American Baptist Churches USA|American Baptist Education Society]] incorporated a new University of Chicago as a [[Mixed-sex education|coeducational]]<ref name="goodspeed">{{cite book |last=Goodspeed |first=Thomas Wakefield |title=A History of the University of Chicago |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryunivers00goodgoog |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=Chicago |year=1916 |isbn=0-226-30367-5}}</ref>{{rp|137}} institution, using $400,000 donated to the ABES to supplement a $600,000 donation from [[Standard Oil]] co-founder [[John D. Rockefeller]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago |url=https://archive.org/details/decennialpublic01chicgoog |journal=Science |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=Chicago |volume=1 |issue=501 |year=1903 |page=498 |bibcode=1904Sci....20..187. |doi=10.1126/science.20.501.187}}</ref> and land donated by [[Marshall Field]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.uchicago.edu/about/history.shtml |url-status=live |publisher=University of Chicago |access-date=May 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526175937/http://www.uchicago.edu/about/history.shtml |archive-date=May 26, 2011}}</ref> While the Rockefeller donation provided money for academic operations and long-term endowment, it was stipulated that such money could not be used for buildings. The [[Hyde Park, Chicago|Hyde Park]] campus’ construction was financed by donations from wealthy Chicagoans such as [[Silas B. Cobb]], who provided the funds for the campus's first building, [[Cobb Lecture Hall]], and matched Marshall Field's pledge of $100,000. Other early benefactors included businessmen [[Charles L. Hutchinson]] (trustee, treasurer and donor of [[Hutchinson Commons]]), [[Martin A. Ryerson]] (president of the board of trustees and donor of the Ryerson Physical Laboratory) [[Adolphus Clay Bartlett]] and Leon Mandel, who funded the construction of the gymnasium and assembly hall, and George C. Walker of the Walker Museum, a relative of Cobb who encouraged his inaugural donation for facilities.<ref>{{cite web |title=The University of Chicago and its Donors, 1889–1930 |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/building/buildings.html |url-status=live |publisher=University of Chicago |access-date=November 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151109182601/http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/webexhibits/building/buildings.html |archive-date=November 9, 2015}}</ref>

The new university acknowledged its predecessor.<ref name="frederick"/>  The university's coat of arms has a phoenix rising from the ashes, a reference to the fire and foreclosure of the Old University of Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/olduofc-0009-004.pdf |title=Old University of Chicago Records, Folder 4, Box 9, Special Collections, University of Chicago. |access-date=June 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922051000/https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/olduofc-0009-004.pdf |archive-date=September 22, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> A single stone from the rubble of the original Douglas Hall on 34th Place was set into the wall of the Classics Building. The dean of the college and University of Chicago and professor of history John Boyer has argued that the University of Chicago has "a plausible genealogy as a pre–Civil War institution".<ref>John Boyer, ''The University of Chicago: A History'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 59.</ref> Alumni from the Old University of Chicago are recognized as alumni of the University of Chicago.<ref>John Boyer, ''The University of Chicago: A History'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015), 58–59.</ref>

[[William Rainey Harper]] became the university's president on July 1, 1891, and the Hyde Park campus opened for classes on October 1, 1892.<ref name="frederick">{{cite book | last=Rudolph | first=Frederick | title=The American College and University: A History | publisher=Knopf | year=1962 | page=351 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3se-H1Y_l7kC&pg=PA351 | isbn=978-0-8203-1284-2 | access-date=November 24, 2020 | archive-date=March 8, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308042336/https://books.google.com/books?id=3se-H1Y_l7kC&pg=PA351 | url-status=live }}</ref> Harper worked on building up the faculty and in two years had a faculty of 120, including eight former university or college presidents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dept.harpercollege.edu/library/archives/williamraineyharper.html |title=Harper College Archives – Wiliiam Rainey Harper |last=Firestein |first=Martin |website=Harper College Library Archives |access-date=September 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109055914/http://dept.harpercollege.edu/library/archives/williamraineyharper.html |archive-date=November 9, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Harper was a [[Semiticist]] and a member of the Baptist clergy who believed that a great university should maintain the study of faith as a central focus.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://divinity.uchicago.edu/history-and-mission#sthash.FRbXtlNP.dpuf | title= History and Mission, The University of Chicago Divinity School | access-date= May 20, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160607193124/http://divinity.uchicago.edu/history-and-mission#sthash.FRbXtlNP.dpuf | archive-date= June 7, 2016 | url-status= dead }}</ref> To fulfill this commitment, he brought the [[Baptists|Baptist]] seminary that had begun as an independent school "alongside" the Old University of Chicago and separated from the old school decades earlier to Morgan Park. This became the [[University of Chicago Divinity School|Divinity School]] in 1891, the first professional school at the University of Chicago.<ref name="goodspeed" />{{rp|20–22}}

In 1892, Harper recruited Yale baseball and football player [[Amos Alonzo Stagg]] from the [[YMCA|Young Men's Christian Association]] training school at [[Springfield College (Massachusetts)|Springfield]] to coach the school's football program.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Muscular Christianity|last=Ladd|first=Tony|publisher=Bridgepoint Books|year=1999|isbn=0-8010-5847-3|location=Grand Rapids, MI|pages=64–68|url=https://archive.org/details/muscularchristia0000ladd/page/65}}</ref> Stagg was given the position of associate professor in physical education, becoming the first football coach and athletic director in the university's history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Youngstown Vindicator - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7zxfAAAAIBAJ&pg=3170,9073092 |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=news.google.com}}</ref> While coaching at the university, Stagg invented the numbered football jersey and the huddle.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reider |first=Bruce |date=April 2007 |title=The Grand Old Men |journal=[[The American Journal of Sports Medicine]] |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=529–530 |doi=10.1177/0363546507300231 |pmid=17413129 |s2cid=33296565 |via=Sage Journals}}</ref> Stagg is the namesake of the university's [[Stagg Field]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Outdoor Athletic Complex |url=https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/2023/6/12/facilities-athletic-fields.aspx |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=University of Chicago |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Booth School of Business|business school]] was founded in 1898,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/history.aspx|title=Chicago Booth History|publisher=University of Chicago Booth School of Business|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602073840/http://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/history.aspx|archive-date=June 2, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[University of Chicago Law School|law school]] was founded in 1902.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.uchicago.edu/school/history|title=History of the Law School|date=June 18, 2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Law School|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728070908/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/school/history|archive-date=July 28, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Harper died in 1906<ref>{{cite web|url=http://president.uchicago.edu/history/harper.shtml|title=History of the Office:William Rainey Harper|publisher=University of Chicago|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028122502/http://president.uchicago.edu/history/harper.shtml|archive-date=October 28, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> and was replaced by a succession of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://president.uchicago.edu/history/|title=History of the Office|publisher=University of Chicago|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912004333/http://president.uchicago.edu/history/|archive-date=September 12, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> During this period, the [[Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa|Oriental Institute]] was founded to support and interpret [[archeological]] work in what was then called the Near East.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/history/|title=A Brief History of the Oriental Institute|publisher=The Oriental Institute|quote=Since its establishment in 1919, the Oriental Institute (now known as the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa) has sponsored archaeological and survey expeditions in every country of the Near East.|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321210727/http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/history/|archive-date=March 21, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1890s, the university, concerned that its vast resources would injure smaller schools by drawing away good students, affiliated with several regional colleges and universities: [[Des Moines College]], [[Kalamazoo College]], [[Butler University]], and [[Stetson University]]. In 1896, the university affiliated with [[Shimer College]] in Mount Carroll, Illinois. Under the terms of the affiliation, the schools were required to have courses of study comparable to those at the university, to notify the university early of any contemplated faculty appointments or dismissals, to make no faculty appointment without the university's approval, and to send copies of examinations for suggestions. The University of Chicago agreed to confer a degree on any graduating senior from an affiliated school who made a grade of A for all four years, and on any other graduate who took twelve weeks additional study at the University of Chicago. A student or faculty member of an affiliated school was entitled to free tuition at the University of Chicago, and Chicago students were eligible to attend an affiliated school on the same terms and receive credit for their work. The University of Chicago also agreed to provide affiliated schools with books and scientific apparatus and supplies at cost; special instructors and lecturers without cost except for travel expenses; and a copy of every book and journal published by the [[University of Chicago Press]] at no cost. The agreement provided that either party could terminate the affiliation on proper notice. Several University of Chicago professors disliked the program, as it involved uncompensated additional labor on their part, and they believed it cheapened the academic reputation of the university. The program was ended by 1910.<ref>Gilbert Lycan, ''Stetson University: The First 100 Years at 70–72,'' pp. 165–185 (Stetson University Press, 1983)</ref>

In 1900, the university co-founded the [[Association of American Universities]] with thirteen other universities, including [[Harvard University|Harvard]], [[Columbia University|Columbia]], and [[Johns Hopkins University|John Hopkins]]. <ref>{{Cite web |title=AAU History |url=https://www.aau.edu/aau-history |access-date=May 16, 2023 |website=Association of American Universities}}</ref>

=== 1920s–1980s ===
[[File:ChicagoPileTeam.png|left|thumb|Some of the University of Chicago team that worked on the production of the world's first human-caused self-sustaining nuclear reaction, including [[Enrico Fermi]] in the front row and [[Leó Szilárd]] in the second|alt=A group of people in suits standing in three rows on the steps in front of a stone building]]

In 1929, the university's fifth president, 30-year-old legal philosophy scholar [[Robert Maynard Hutchins]], took office. The university underwent many changes during his 24-year tenure. Hutchins reformed the undergraduate college's curriculum into a liberal-arts curriculum, which survives today in the form of a Common Core.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=History of the Core {{!}} The College {{!}} The University of Chicago {{!}} The University of Chicago |url=https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/core/history |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=college.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref> He also organized the university's graduate work into four divisions,<ref name="hutchins" /> and eliminated varsity football from the university in an attempt to emphasize academics over athletics.<ref name="hutchins">{{cite web |url=http://president.uchicago.edu/history/hutchins.shtml |title=History of the Office |publisher=The University of Chicago Office of the President |date=November 6, 2008 |access-date=September 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028123034/http://president.uchicago.edu/history/hutchins.shtml |archive-date=October 28, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> During his term, the University of Chicago Hospitals (now called the [[University of Chicago Medical Center]]) finished construction and enrolled their first medical students.<ref name="hospitalhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.uchospitals.edu/about/history.html |title=A Brief History of the Medical Center |publisher=The University of Chicago Medical Center |access-date=September 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202082321/http://www.uchospitals.edu/about/history.html |archive-date=December 2, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> Furthermore, the philosophy oriented [[Committee on Social Thought]] was created.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About {{!}} John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought |url=https://socialthought.uchicago.edu/about |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=socialthought.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

Money that had been raised during the 1920s and financial backing from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] helped the school to survive through the [[Great Depression]].<ref name="hutchins" /> In 1933, Hutchins proposed a plan to merge the University of Chicago and [[Northwestern University]], though it was ultimately abandoned.<ref name="merger">{{cite web|title=The "Universities of Chicago" Proposal |url=http://www.northwestern.edu/about/historic-moments/academics/the-universities-of-chicago.html|publisher=Northwestern University|access-date=September 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527160652/http://www.northwestern.edu/about/historic-moments/academics/the-universities-of-chicago.html|archive-date=May 27, 2010|url-status=dead }}</ref> During World War II, the university's [[Metallurgical Laboratory]] contributed to the [[Manhattan Project]].<ref name="manhattan">{{cite web|url=http://www.atomicheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155|title=University of Chicago Met Lab|publisher=Atomic Heritage Foundation|access-date=July 31, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612002453/http://www.atomicheritage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=155|archive-date=June 12, 2011|url-status=dead }}</ref> The university was the site of the first isolation of [[plutonium]] and of the creation of the first artificial, self-sustained nuclear reaction by [[Enrico Fermi]] in 1942.<ref name="manhattan" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osti.gov/cgi-bin/rd_accomplishments/display_biblio.cgi?id=ACC0044&numPages=51&fp=N |website=DOE R&D Accomplishments |publisher=Office of Scientific & Technical Information |title=The First Reactor|quote=On December 2, 1942, in a racquets court underneath the West Stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi created man's first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.|access-date=July 15, 2009|date=December 1982|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512015519/http://www.osti.gov/cgi-bin/rd_accomplishments/display_biblio.cgi?id=ACC0044&numPages=51&fp=N|archive-date=May 12, 2009|url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the early 1950s, student applications declined as a result of increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood. In response, the university became a major sponsor of an [[Hyde Park, Chicago#Racial integration, economic decline, and urban renewal|urban renewal project for Hyde Park]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-02 |title=HPKCC Story and role in Urban Renewal |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202210326/https://www.hydepark.org/historicpres/HPKCCstoryurbren.htm |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref> which called for the clearing of 101 acres of land. Of the buildings proposed for demolition, 78% were substandard. During this period the university, and later the affiliated Shimer College, adopted an early entrant program that allowed students with two years of high school education to attend college.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dzuback |first=Mary Ann |title=Robert M. Hutchins: portrait of an educator |date=1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-226-17710-6 |location=Chicago |pages=69}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 April 1950 |title=Hutchins Sells Shimer on 'Chicago Plan' of Education |url=https://hpherald.newsbank.com/doc/image/v2:13EDAA8FD407386D@NGPA-ILHPH-1406A5A6416AD12A@2433391-1406A5A642A8E850@11-1406A5A6A26D6CC6@Hutchins+Sells+Shimer+on+%2527Chicago+Plan%2527+of+Education?search_terms=shimer&text=shimer&content_added=&date_from=&date_to=&pub%255B0%255D=13EDAA8FD407386D&pdate=1950-04-19 |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=hpherald.newsbank.com}}</ref>

[[File:Chicago Maroon (January 17, 1962).pdf|thumb|upright|left|Front page of ''[[The Chicago Maroon|Chicago Maroon]]'' breaking the news of the university's segregationist off-campus rental policies]]

The university experienced its share of student unrest during the 1960s, beginning in 1962 when then-freshman [[Bernie Sanders]] helped lead a [[University of Chicago sit-ins|15-day sit-in at the college's administration building]] in a protest over the university's segregationist off-campus rental policies. After continued turmoil, a university committee in 1967 issued what became known as the [[Kalven report|Kalven Report]]. The report, a two-page statement of the university's policy in "social and political action," declared that "To perform its mission in the society, a university must sustain an extraordinary environment of freedom of inquiry and maintain an independence from political fashions, passions, and pressures."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/kalvenreport.pdf |title=Kalven Committee: Report on the University's Role in Political and Social Action|access-date=October 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923185337/http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/kalvenreport.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> The report has since been used to justify decisions such as the university's refusal to divest from South Africa in the 1980s and Darfur in the late 2000s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Fang |first=Marina |url=http://chicagomaroon.com/2013/02/21/born-amidst-60s-student-protests-kalven-report-remains-controversial/ |title=Born amidst '60s student protests, Kalven Report remains controversial |publisher=ChicagoMaroon.com |access-date=January 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725125709/http://chicagomaroon.com/2013/02/21/born-amidst-60s-student-protests-kalven-report-remains-controversial/ |archive-date=July 25, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1969, after the sociology department unanimously declined to rehire assistant professor [[Marlene Dixon]] (an open [[Marxism|Marxist]]), over 400 students occupied the Administration Building for two weeks to protest the perceived politically motivated decision.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sinhababu |first=Supriya |title=The sit-in: 40 years later |url=https://chicagomaroon.com/22887/grey-city/the-sit-in-40-years-later/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Chicago Maroon}}</ref> After the sit-in ended when Dixon turned down a one-year reappointment, 42 students were expelled and 81 were suspended,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://alumniweekend.uchicago.edu/reu-72-scrap.shtml |title=The University of Chicago – Alumni Weekend |publisher=Alumniweekend.uchicago.edu |access-date=September 14, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907211148/http://alumniweekend.uchicago.edu/reu-72-scrap.shtml |archive-date=September 7, 2008 }}</ref> the most severe response to student occupations of any American university during the student movement.<ref>{{cite book|first=Eileen|last=Boris|title=Voices of Women Historians: The Personal, the Political, the Professional|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2BHlbO6eJrQC&pg=PA33|access-date=June 11, 2008|publisher=Indiana university Press|isbn=978-0-253-33494-7|year=1999|archive-date=March 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308042330/https://books.google.com/books?id=2BHlbO6eJrQC&pg=PA33|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1978, history scholar [[Hanna Holborn Gray]], then the provost and acting president of [[Yale University]], became president of the University of Chicago, a position she held for 15 years. She was the first woman in the United States to hold the presidency of a major university.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www-news.uchicago.edu/president/history/gray.shtml |title=Hanna Holborn Gray (1978–1993) |publisher=University of Chicago News Office |date=March 9, 2006 |access-date=September 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619130714/http://www-news.uchicago.edu/president/history/gray.shtml |archive-date=June 19, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1989, the [[University of Chicago Graduate Library School|Graduate Library School]] was closed.<ref>{{cite journal |date=February 15, 1989 |title=Chicago GLS to close |journal=Library Journal |volume=114 |page=111}}</ref>

=== 1990s–2020s ===
[[File:Harper Midway Chicago.jpg|thumb|View from the [[Midway Plaisance]]]]
In 1999, President [[Hugo F. Sonnenschein|Hugo Sonnenschein]] announced plans to relax the university's [[core curriculum]], reducing the number of required courses from 21 to 15. When ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The Economist]]'', and other news outlets picked up this story, the university became the focal point of a national debate on education. The changes were ultimately implemented, but the controversy played a role in Sonnenschein's decision to resign in 2000.<ref name="corewar">{{cite book | last = Beam | first = Alex | title = A Great Idea at the Time | publisher = Public Affairs | year = 2008 | page = 152 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xyQOZUzkt3UC&pg=PA153 | isbn = 978-1-58648-487-3 | access-date = March 26, 2019 | archive-date = March 8, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230308042413/https://books.google.com/books?id=xyQOZUzkt3UC&pg=PA153 | url-status = live }}</ref>

From the mid-2000s, the university began a number of multi-million dollar expansion projects. In 2008, the University of Chicago announced the establishment of the [[Milton Friedman Institute]], which attracted both support and controversy from faculty members and {{nowrap|students.<ref>{{cite news|last=Staley and Lippert|first=Oliver and John|title=Milton Friedman Institute Spurs Chicago Faculty Clash (Update3)|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akM_dI3rWYKo|newspaper=Bloomberg|date=October 15, 2008|access-date=March 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121074446/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=akM_dI3rWYKo|archive-date=November 21, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Jacobsen|first=Kurt|title=Milton Friedman gives Chicago a headache|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/aug/26/economics.miltonfriedman|newspaper=The Guardian|date=August 26, 2008|location=London|access-date=December 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305042507/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/aug/26/economics.miltonfriedman|archive-date=March 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Patricia|title=On Chicago Campus, Milton Friedman's Legacy of Controversy Continues|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/books/12milt.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 12, 2008|access-date=February 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302141240/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/books/12milt.html|archive-date=March 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="petition">{{cite web | title=Milton Friedman Petition | url=http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/friedman_letter.htm | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108175322/http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/friedman_letter.htm | archive-date=January 8, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Cochrane|first=John|title=Comments on the Milton Friedman Institute Protest letter|url=http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/friedman_letter_comments.htm|access-date=June 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714162944/http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/friedman_letter_comments.htm|archive-date=July 14, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>}} The institute was later merged with the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory to form the new [[Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-06-17 |title=Becker Friedman Institute established at University of Chicago {{!}} University of Chicago News |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/becker-friedman-institute-established-university-chicago |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=news.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref> In 2008, investor [[David G. Booth]] donated $300&nbsp;million to the university's [[University of Chicago Booth School of Business|Booth School of Business]], which is the largest gift in the university's history and the largest gift ever to any business school.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aAHS0r6IylXI |title=Booth Donates $300 Million to Chicago Business School |access-date=November 10, 2008 |publisher=[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]] |date=November 7, 2008 |archive-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308042341/https://www.bloomberg.com/politics?pid=20601103&sid=aAHS0r6IylXI |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2009, planning or construction on several new buildings, half of which cost $100&nbsp;million or more, was underway.<ref name="construction">{{cite magazine|url=http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/features/make_no_little_quads.shtml|magazine=University of Chicago Magazine|last=Pridmore|first=Jay|title=Make No Little Quads|access-date=July 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090809151723/http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0906/features/make_no_little_quads.shtml|archive-date=August 9, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2011, major construction projects have included the Jules and Gwen Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, a ten-story medical research center, and further additions to the medical campus of the [[University of Chicago Medical Center]].<ref name="knapp">{{cite press release | title=$25 million gift from Jules and Gwen Knapp will help build 10-story medical research facility at the University of Chicago | publisher=University of Chicago News Office | url=http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060210.knapp.shtml | access-date=June 11, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830170415/http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/060210.knapp.shtml | archive-date=August 30, 2006 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2014, the university launched the public phase of a $4.5 billion [[fundraising]] campaign.<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Mitch|title=University of Chicago announces $4.5 billion fundraising campaign|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2014/05/08/university-of-chicago-announces-45-billion-fundraising-campaign/|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=December 22, 2015|date=May 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225091845/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-08/news/chi-university-of-chicago-announces-45-billion-fundraising-campaign-20140508_1_previous-campaign-chicago-campaign-chicago-area|archive-date=December 25, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In September 2015, the university received $100 million from The Pearson Family Foundation to establish The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Pearson Global Forum at the [[Harris School of Public Policy]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Glanton|first=Dahleen|title=U. of C. gets $100 million donation to study global conflict|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-u-of-chicago-100-million-donation-global-conflict-20150930-story.html|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=December 2, 2015|date=September 30, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151201231909/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-u-of-chicago-100-million-donation-global-conflict-20150930-story.html|archive-date=December 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2019, the university created its first school in three decades, the [[Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering]].<ref name="wsjarticleonnewengineeringschool">{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-chicago-launches-school-of-molecular-engineering-11559055600 |title=University of Chicago Launches School of Molecular Engineering |last=Holland |first=Jake |date=May 28, 2019 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=May 28, 2019 |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528172510/https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-chicago-launches-school-of-molecular-engineering-11559055600 |archive-date=May 28, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-university-of-chicago-molecular-engineering-20190528-story.html |title=University of Chicago receives $75M to launch campus' first engineering school |last=Rhodes |first=Dawn |date=May 28, 2019 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528175917/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-university-of-chicago-molecular-engineering-20190528-story.html |archive-date=May 28, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On April 29, 2024, students at the University of Chicago set up [[List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States in 2024#Illinois|an encampment on the university's main quad]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 29, 2024 |title=University of Chicago students set up pro-Palestinian encampment on campus as protests spread |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/israel-hamas-war/2024/04/29/university-of-chicago-protest-camp-palestine-israel-hamas |access-date=August 5, 2024 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}</ref> as a part of [[2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses|the nationwide movement]] in support of Palestine at institutions of higher learning across the country. The encampment was cleared by the University of Chicago Police Department on May 7.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maheras |first=Peter |title=Police raid quad encampment |url=https://chicagomaroon.com/43157/news/breaking-police-arrive-on-main-quad-in-riot-gear-tell-protesters-to-leave/ |access-date=August 5, 2024 |website=Chicago Maroon}}</ref>