University of Missouri

The University of Missouri is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. Founded in 1839, MU was the first public university west of the Mississippi River. It has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1908 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."
Enrolling 31,041 students in 2023, it offers more than 300 degree programs in thirteen major academic divisions. Its Missouri School of Journalism, founded by Walter Williams in 1908, was established as the world's first journalism school; it publishes a daily newspaper, the Columbia Missourian, and operates NBC affiliate KOMU. The University of Missouri Research Reactor Center is the sole source of isotopes in nuclear medicine in the United States. The university operates University of Missouri Health Care, running several hospitals and clinics in Mid-Missouri.
Its NCAA Division I athletic teams are the Missouri Tigers and compete in the Southeastern Conference. The American tradition of homecoming is claimed to have originated at MU.

History

Early years

In 1839, the Missouri Legislature passed the Geyer Act to establish funds for a state university. It was the first public university west of the Mississippi River. To secure the university, the citizens of Columbia and Boone County pledged $117,921 in cash and land to beat out five other central Missouri counties for the location of the state university. The land on which the university was constructed was just south of Columbia's downtown and owned by James S. Rollins who was later called the "Father of the University." As the first public university in the Louisiana Purchase, the school was shaped by Thomas Jefferson's ideas about public education. The school initially admitted only white male students.
In 1862, the American Civil War forced the university to close for much of the year. Residents of Columbia formed a Union "home guard" militia that became known as the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia". They were given the name for their readiness to protect the city and university. In 1890, the university's newly formed football team took the name the "Tigers" after the Civil War militia.
In 1870, the institution was granted land-grant college status under the Morrill Act of 1862. The act led to the founding of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy as an offshoot of the main campus in Columbia. It developed as the present-day Missouri University of Science and Technology. In 1888, the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station opened. This grew to encompass ten centers and research farms around Missouri. By 1890, the university encompassed a normal college, engineering college, arts, and science college, school of agriculture and mechanical arts. school of medicine, and school of law.

1892–present

On January 9, 1892, Academic Hall, the institution's central administrative building, burned in a fire that gutted the building, leaving little more standing than six stone Ionic columns. Under the administration of Missouri Governor David R. Francis, the university was rebuilt, with additions that shaped the modern institution.
After the fire, some state residents tried to have the university moved farther west to Sedalia; but Columbia rallied support to keep it. The columns were retained as a symbol of the historic campus. They are surrounded by the Francis Quadrangle, the oldest part of campus. At the quad's southern end is Academic Hall's replacement, Jesse Hall, named for Richard Jesse. Built in 1895, Jesse Hall holds many administrative offices and Jesse Auditorium. The buildings surrounding the quad were constructed of red brick, leading to this area becoming known as Red Campus. The area was tied together in planned landscaping and walks in 1910 by George Kessler in a City Beautiful design of the grounds.
To the east of the quadrangle, later buildings constructed of white limestone in 1913 and 1914 to accommodate the new academic programs became known as the White Campus. In 1908 the journalism school opened at MU, claiming to be the world's first.
In April 1923, a black janitor was accused of the rape of the daughter of a University of Missouri professor. James T. Scott was abducted from the Boone County Jail by a lynch mob of townsfolk and students and was hanged from a bridge near the campus.
In late 1935, four graduates of Lincoln University—a traditionally black school about away in Jefferson City—were denied admission to MU's graduate school. One of the students, Lloyd L. Gaines, brought his case to the United States Supreme Court. On December 12, 1938, in a landmark 6–2 decision, the court ordered the State of Missouri to admit Gaines to MU's law school or provide a facility of equal stature. Gaines disappeared in Chicago on March 19, 1939, under suspicious circumstances. The university granted Gaines a posthumous honorary law degree in May 2006. Undergraduate divisions were integrated by court order in 1950 when the university was compelled to admit African Americans to courses that were not offered at Lincoln University.
On June 5, 1935, the university erected a memorial to the Confederate soldiers of Missouri; it was popularly known as Confederate Rock. The monument was removed in 1974.
Following the 2015–16 University of Missouri protests, the chancellor and system president resigned amid racial complaints by students. In addition, the university was censured by the American Association of University Professors for the third time.
Due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, the university canceled classes on March 11, 2020, and resumed teaching in person in August.

Campus

The campus of the University of Missouri is just south of Downtown Columbia and is maintained as a botanical garden. The campus received official designation as the "Mizzou Botanic Garden" in 1999, recognizing its collection of more than 11,000 trees and numerous themed plantings used for teaching and research. The historical campus is centered on Francis Quadrangle, a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and contains several buildings on the register.
The academic buildings are classified into two main groups: Red Campus and White Campus. Red Campus is the historic core of mostly brick academic buildings around the landmark columns of the Francis Quadrangle; it includes Jesse Hall and Switzler Hall. In the early 20th century, the College of Agriculture received several new buildings. The new buildings, constructed in Neo-Gothic style from native Missouri limestone, form the White Campus. This includes Memorial Union.
During the 1990s, Red Campus was extended to the south with the creation of the Carnahan Quadrangle. Hulston Hall of the University of Missouri School of Law, completed in 1988, formed the eastern border of the future quad. The Reynolds Alumni Center was completed in 1992 on the west side of the new quad. It was completed in 2002 with Cornell Hall of the Trulaske College of Business and Tiger Plaza. Plans for a new plaza on the north end of the Carnahan Quadrangle were unveiled in 2014. Called Traditions Plaza, it was opened on October 25, 2014, during homecoming festivities.
The original MU intercollegiate athletic facilities, such as Rollins Field and Rothwell Gymnasium, were just south of the academic buildings. Expanded facilities were constructed across Stadium Boulevard, where Memorial Stadium opened in 1926. The Hearnes Center was built to the east of the stadium in 1972. In 1994, the university developed the first draft of a master plan for the campus to tie together all of Tiger athletic facilities to the south of Stadium Boulevard and add to its design. The MU Sports Park includes the Mizzou Arena, Taylor Stadium, Walton Stadium, Mizzou Athletics Training Complex, University Field and Devine Pavilion. Student athletic facilities remain in the core area of campus. Rothwell Gymnasium and Brewer Fieldhouse are part of the Student Recreation Center, which was ranked number one in the nation in 2005 by Sports Illustrated.
The main campus of the University of Missouri Hospitals and Clinics is north of the sports complex. It includes the University of Missouri Hospital and Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital. Two of the hospitals, Columbia Regional Hospital and Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, are northeast of the main campus near I-70.

In media

The campus is the major setting for the 1965 novel Stoner by John Edward Williams. Protagonist William Stoner is an English professor who was raised on a farm in nearby Boonville.

Organization and administration

The University of Missouri is organized into seven colleges and eleven schools, and hosts approximately 300 majors.

Name

Upon creation of the system, each university was renamed with its host city; thus, the university in Columbia became the University of Missouri–Columbia. There were attempts to drop Columbia from its name by students, faculty, alumni, and administrators who said it might cause the university to be perceived as a regional institution. This change was long resisted by the UM System and the other universities based on uniformity and fairness. The board of curators voted unanimously in 2007 to allow MU to drop Columbia from its name for all public use.

Presidents and chancellors

Each campus of the University of Missouri System is led by a chancellor, who reports to the president of the UM System.
Presidents, 1841–1963 and chancellors, 1963–present: