Editing Tulane University (section)

===21st century===
In July 2004, Tulane received two $30 million donations to its [[financial endowment|endowment]], the largest individual or combined gifts in the university's history. The donations came from [[James H. Clark]], a member of the university's board of trustees and founder of [[Netscape]], and [[David Filo]], a graduate of its School of Engineering and co-founder of [[Yahoo!]]. A fund-raising campaign called "Promise & Distinction" raised $730.6 million by October 3, 2008, increasing the university's total endowment to more than $1.1 billion; by March 2009, Yvette Jones, Tulane's Chief Operating Officer, told Tulane's Staff Advisory Council that the endowment "has lost close to 37%", affected by the [[Great Recession]].<ref name="endow2009">{{cite web| url=http://tulane.edu/sac/upload/SAC-Minutes-3-12-2009.doc| format=[[DOC (computing)|DOC]]| title=Tulane University Staff Advisory Council: Minutes of Thursday, March 12, 2009| publisher=Tulane University| date=March 12, 2009| access-date=April 29, 2009| quote=Tulane made some hard decisions after Katrina, and we are not in as difficult position that many institutions are in now. We are conditioned in times like this because of how we have worked so long. Endowment has lost close to 38%, the incoff of that is only 6% of our revenue base. The challenge is the endowments whose market value is lower and we cannot pay out on, but generally we are in good shape.| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621020621/http://tulane.edu/sac/upload/SAC-Minutes-3-12-2009.doc| archive-date=June 21, 2009| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2021, Tulane had to evacuate all students and close down for a month due to damage from [[Hurricane Ida]]. No classes took place for two weeks, then there were virtual classes for the remaining two weeks.

In June 2024, non-tenure track faculty at Tulane voted to form Tulane Workers United, the first higher education faculty union in the state of Louisiana. The union is formally affiliated with [[Workers United]] and [[Service Employees International Union|SEIU]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fazio |first1=Marie |title=Tulane University non-tenured faculty vote to unionize in push for higher pay, job security |url=https://www.nola.com/news/education/tulane-university-non-tenured-faculty-vote-union-workers-pay/article_504752b0-2db5-11ef-b9c1-07a59ff0cec0.html |access-date=5 September 2024 |publisher=Times-Picayune |date=19 June 2024}}</ref>

====Hurricane Katrina====
{{Main|Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Tulane University}}
[[File:Tulane Freeman School of Business interior.jpg|thumb|Main hall at the Freeman School of Business]]
As a result of [[Hurricane Katrina]] in August 2005 and its damaging effects on New Orleans, most of the university was closed for the second time in its history—the first being during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. The closing affected the first semester of the school calendar year. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's distance learning programs and courses stayed active. The School of Medicine relocated to [[Houston]], [[Texas]] for a year. Aside from student-athletes attending college classes together on the same campuses, most undergraduate and graduate students dispersed to campuses throughout the U.S. The storm inflicted more than $650 million in damages to the university, with some of the greatest losses impacting the [[Howard-Tilton Memorial Library]] and its collections.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_071510.cfm |title=Tulane University - Sources for News Coverage of Hurricane Katrina's Fifth Anniversary |access-date=April 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413133433/https://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_071510.cfm |archive-date=April 13, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Facing a budget shortfall, the Board of Administrators announced a "Renewal Plan" in December 2005 to reduce its annual operating budget and create a "student-centric" campus. Addressing the school's commitment to New Orleans, a course credit involving [[Service-learning|service learning]] became a requirement for an undergraduate degree. In 2006 Tulane became the first Carnegie ranked "high research activity" institution to have an undergraduate public service graduation requirement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tulane.edu/cps/about/graduation-requirement.cfm |title=Public Service Graduation Requirement |publisher=Tulane.edu |date=July 8, 2010 |access-date=April 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402001616/http://tulane.edu/cps/about/graduation-requirement.cfm |archive-date=April 2, 2012 }}</ref> In May 2006, graduation ceremonies included commencement speakers former Presidents [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[Bill Clinton]], who commended the students for their desire to return to Tulane and serve New Orleans in its renewal.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/commencement-2006/4/|title=Commencement 2006|date=May 22, 2006|access-date=June 1, 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902094513/https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/commencement-2006/4/|archive-date=September 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.tulane.edu/grads/speakers-william-clinton.cfm|title=Tulane University - 2006 Speaker - William J. Clinton|website=www2.tulane.edu|language=en|access-date=June 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530054540/http://tulane.edu/grads/speakers-william-clinton.cfm|archive-date=May 30, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>