Editing University of Rochester (section)

==== Name change controversy ====
Following the princely gifts given throughout his life, George Eastman left the entirety of his estate to the university after his death by suicide.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tech.mit.edu/V52/PDF/V52-N15.pdf|title=Eastman dies by own hand|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810114423/http://tech.mit.edu/V52/PDF/V52-N15.pdf|archive-date=August 10, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The total of these gifts surpassed $100 million, before inflation, and, as such, Rochester enjoyed a privileged position amongst the most well-endowed universities. During the expansion years between 1936 and 1976,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last1=Jarrell|first1=Gregg |last2=Dorkey |first2=Frank C. |date=November 1993|title=University of Rochester's Endowment Fund Review |website=University of Rochester |url=https://urresearch.rochester.edu/fileDownloadForInstitutionalItem.action?itemId=4419&itemFileId=6639}}</ref> the University of Rochester's financial position ranked third, near [[Harvard University]]'s endowment and the [[University of Texas System]]'s [[Permanent University Fund]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Secrets of the Academy: The Drivers of University Endowment Success|first1=Jialan|last1=Wang|first2=Antoinette|last2=Schoar|first3=Josh|last3=Lerner|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=22|issue=3|pages=207–222|doi=10.1257/jep.22.3.207|year=2008|s2cid=17968423|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w14341.pdf|access-date=December 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211234418/https://www.nber.org/papers/w14341.pdf|archive-date=December 11, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Due to financial mismanagement combined with a decline in the value of large investments and a lack of portfolio diversity, the university's place dropped to the top 25 by the end of the 1980s.<ref name=":3" /> At the same time, the preeminence of the city of Rochester's major employers began to decline.

In response, the university commissioned a study to determine if the name of the institution should be changed to "Eastman University" or "Eastman Rochester University". The study concluded a name change could be beneficial because the use of a place name in the title led respondents to incorrectly believe it was a public university, and because the name "Rochester" connoted a "cold and distant outpost." Reports of the latter conclusion led to controversy and criticism in the Rochester community. Ultimately, the name "University of Rochester" was retained.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19860217&id=rAkhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TXIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1098,70161] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101194032/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1917&dat=19860217&id=rAkhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TXIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1098,70161|date=January 1, 2016}}, University of Rochester Urged to Change Name</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120715204855/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2506&dat=19860419&id=_mxJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pQoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3151,5556624] What's in a Name? Plenty, Argue University's Alumni</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/25/nyregion/our-towns-change-of-image-in-cold-and-distant-outpost.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013080733/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/25/nyregion/our-towns-change-of-image-in-cold-and-distant-outpost.html|date=October 13, 2016}} Our Towns--Change of Image in "Cold and Distant Outpost</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FFovBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22cold+and+distant+outpost%22&pg=PA165] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918205651/https://books.google.com/books?id=FFovBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22cold+and+distant+outpost%22&pg=PA165|date=September 18, 2023}} Pieterse, "Our Work Is But Begun: A History of the University of Rochester 1850-2005" (Boydell & Brewer, 2014), pg. 165</ref>

In response, University President [[Thomas H. Jackson]] announced the launch of a "Renaissance Plan" for the college that reduced enrollment from 4,500 to 3,600, creating a more selective admissions process.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|url=https://www.jpbm.org/publicoutreach/roch-ap2|title=Appendix 2: Letter to Rochester Faculty from President Jackson, Provost Phelps, and Dean Aslin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616231244/https://www.jpbm.org/publicoutreach/roch-ap2|archive-date=June 16, 2018}}</ref> The plan also revised the undergraduate curriculum significantly, creating the current system with only one required course and only a few distribution requirements, known as clusters.<ref>[http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1838 Rochester.edu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623100036/http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1838 |date=June 23, 2013 }}, Press Release: Rochester Renaissance Plan for The College</ref> Part of this plan called for the end of graduate doctoral studies in chemical engineering, comparative literature, linguistics, and mathematics,<ref name=":4" /> the last of which was met by national outcry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/199603/rochester.pdf|title=Downsizing at Rochester: Mathematics Ph.D. Program Cut|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623212529/http://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/199603/rochester.pdf|archive-date=June 23, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Arenson|first=Karen W.|date=February 4, 1996|title=Fears That Loss of a Math Ph.D. Program Figures in a Bigger Equation|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/04/nyregion/fears-that-loss-of-a-math-phd-program-figures-in-a-bigger-equation.html|access-date=January 29, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=December 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222162856/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/04/nyregion/fears-that-loss-of-a-math-phd-program-figures-in-a-bigger-equation.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Arenson|first=Karen W.|date=March 29, 1996|title=Cut in Math Program Is Reversed At the University of Rochester|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/29/nyregion/cut-in-math-program-is-reversed-at-the-university-of-rochester.html|access-date=January 29, 2022|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129184503/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/29/nyregion/cut-in-math-program-is-reversed-at-the-university-of-rochester.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The plan was largely scrapped and mathematics exists as a graduate course of study to this day.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/04/nyregion/fears-that-loss-of-a-math-phd-program-figures-in-a-bigger-equation.html|title=Fears That Loss of a Math Ph.D. Program Figures in a Bigger Equation|last=Arenson|first=Karen W.|date=February 4, 1996|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 18, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222162856/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/04/nyregion/fears-that-loss-of-a-math-phd-program-figures-in-a-bigger-equation.html|archive-date=December 22, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>