University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The university also operates the Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health in Portland, Oregon; the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, Oregon; and Pine Mountain Observatory in Central Oregon.
UO's 295-acre campus is situated along the Willamette River. Most academic programs follow the 10-week quarter system. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is a member of the Association of American Universities. Since July 2014, UO has been governed by its own board of trustees.
UO student-athletes compete as the Oregon Ducks and are part of the Big Ten Conference in the NCAA Division I. With eighteen varsity teams, the Oregon Ducks are best known for their football team and track and field program. These two teams are even incorporated into the design of the school's "O" logo. In the summer of 2022, UO hosted the 2022 World Athletics Championships. It was the first time the event was held in the United States.
The university has a long and complex relationship with Nike, Inc., and the firm's co-founder Phil Knight. As a consequence of state higher-education disinvestment starting in the 1990s, UO has embraced a "University of Nike" image. Fueled by large investments in athletic infrastructure, this trend has accelerated in recent years. Knight, an alumnus, has advocated for both athletic prominence and increased privatisation of the university, and has donated over $1 billion to UO since the late-1980s, much of it going towards athletics. The school's "O" logo was designed by Nike in 1998 and sports facility projects on campus typically involve both Knight and Nike.
The university's motto, mens agitat molem comes from the Aeneid by Virgil,.

History

Establishment

Prior to the establishment of the university in 1872, most of Oregon's colleges were denominational. While the Oregon State Legislature drafted a bill in 1872 to form the university, a citizens group from Eugene, the Union University Association, formed and began campaigning to make the university non-denominational. During a legislative meeting in September 1872, the UUA would succeed in amending the bill to include a non-denominational clause. The bill eventually was passed by the state legislature in 1872, establishing the institution as Oregon State University. The residents of Eugene raised $27,500 to buy eighteen acres of land at a cost of $2,500.

Early years

The university opened in 1876 under the name of "Oregon State University" and University Hall as its sole building. The first year of enrollment contained 155 students taught by five faculty members. The first graduating class was in 1878, graduating five students. In 1881, the university was nearly closed; it was $8,000 in debt before Henry Villard donated $7,000 to help pay it. In 1913 and 1932, there were proposals to merge the university with what is now Oregon State University. Both proposals were defeated.

Maturity as a university

During Prince Lucien Campbell's tenure as president from 1902 to 1925, the university experienced tremendous growth. The budget, enrollment, facilities, and faculty members all grew several times its amount prior to his presidency. Numerous schools were also established during his tenure, including the School of Music in 1902, the School of Education in 1910, the School of Architecture, the College of Business in 1914, the School of Law in 1915, the School of Journalism in 1916, and the School of Health and Physical Education in 1920. However, the University of Oregon lost its School of Engineering to Oregon Agricultural College, now known as Oregon State University.
In 1917, a "three term" calendar was adopted by the university faculty as a war-time measure. This academic calendar has remained ever since then. However, it is now referred to as the Quarter System.
The Zorn-MacPherson Bill in 1932 proposed the University of Oregon and Oregon State College merge. The bill lost in a landslide vote of over 6 to 1. The University of Oregon Medical School was founded in 1887 in Portland and merged with Willamette University's program in 1913. However, in 1974 it became an independent institution known as Oregon Health Sciences University.
The Institute of Molecular Biology was established at the university in 1959.
UO served as the filming location for the 1978 cult classic National Lampoon's Animal House.

Golden age

The 60s and 70s were somewhat of a golden age for the university. In 1964, the university ranked 25th nationally in National Science Foundation basic research grants, ahead of the University of Rochester, Northwestern University, the University of Colorado and the University of Pittsburgh.
In 1969, the UO was admitted into the Association of American Universities, along with Case Western Reserve University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Southern California.
Graduate enrollment peaked during the 1978-79 academic year at 4,568. From 1970 to 1979, 2,614 doctoral degrees were awarded at UO cumulatively.
From 1970 to 1979, 817 UO undergraduate students would go on to earn doctoral degrees at UO or another institution. Despite increases in total undergraduate enrollment since the 60s and 70s, fewer UO undergraduate students would go on to earn doctorates in the 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s.

Decade	Average total enrolment	Average undergraduate enrolment	Average graduate enrolment	Doctoral degrees awarded	UO undergraduates who earned doctorate in USA
1960s	12,804			1,203	372
1970s	16,252	12,160	4,092	2,614	817
1980s	16,830	12,849	3,981	1,889	612
1990s	17,015	13,477	3,538	1,883	725
2000s	20,232	16,343	3,889	1,528	710
2010s	23,727	20,037	3,690	1,580	810

Prominent UO researchers of this era include Michael Posner, Frank Stahl, George Streisinger and Aaron Novick.
UO experienced state disinvestment in the 1980s during the tenure of president Paul Olum. Further state disinvestment occurred during the 1990s and during the Great Recession. Many programs have been scaled back or eliminated.

Recent history

In recent years UO's administration and Board of Trustees have approved hundreds of millions of dollars in construction projects. These facilities include Matthew Knight Arena, the Ford Alumni Center, the EMU renovation, and dormitories. This has occurred in tandem with state budget reductions, tuition increases, and increases in out-of-state enrollment.
In 2016, the university removed the name of Frederic Stanley Dunn, head of the Classics department in the 1920s and 30s, from the dormitory Dunn Hall, because of his leading role in the Ku Klux Klan.

Declining state support

established limits on property taxes in Oregon. This impacted the state budget, and led to budget and programmatic cuts at UO starting the 1990s. The College of Human Performance and Development was closed. Furthermore, many of the school's primary and secondary teacher training programs were eliminated. By 1997, more than 20 other programs were closed or significantly reduced in size.
UO has initiated three capital campaigns in the last 30 years. The first campaign of this era was launched with a goal of $150 million. It ended up raising a total of $255.3 million between 1992 and 1998.
With financial support from the state dwindling from 40% to 13% of the university budget, in January 2001, University President Dave Frohnmayer began Campaign Oregon with the goal of raising $600 million by December 2008, the most ambitious philanthropic fundraising campaign in the state's history at the time. With contributions exceeding $100 million from benefactors such as Phil Knight and Lorry I. Lokey, the campaign goal was exceeded by over $253 million.
In the fall of 2014, the institution announced that it would attempt to raise $2 billion from donors. In the fall of 2018, the campaign revised its goal to $3 billion. Substantial gifts were donated by Phil Knight and his wife. In October 2016, it was announced Phil Knight and his wife Penny will contribute $500 million to establish the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. At the time it was the largest donation to a public research university. Knight gave an additional $500 million to the Knight Campus in 2021.
In 2022, Steve Ballmer made a large gift of $425 million to fund a new institute for children's behavioral health.
Despite the recent influx in private gifts given by mega-donors, as of 2020, UO's state subsidy per resident student is one of the lowest in both the Association of American Universities and Pac-12 Conference.

"University of Nike"

The school's "O" logo was officially adopted by the university as a whole in 2002. Designed by Nike, it was first adopted by the athletic program in late-1998. The inside of the logo is said to depict Hayward Field, the institution's track and field venue. The outside of the logo is said to represent Autzen Stadium, which is UO's football stadium.
Phil Knight has financed hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of construction projects on UO's campus going back to the late-1980s. Knight contributed to the renovation and expansion of the Main Library, now called the Knight Library, and the construction of the William W. Knight Law Center. Knight did not make a major contribution to academics between 1996 and 2016.
Knight is an athletic booster. He has contributed to, and managed, the construction of various athletic department facilities. Knight's involvement in said projects usually does not involve any university oversight, making them controversial. Knight also financed the majority of the Hayward Field renovation project.
Major publications including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have described the university as the "University of Nike". A book titled The University of Nike, written by Joshua Hunt, describes Nike and Phil Knight's influence on the university.
16.5% of UO's gross square footage is purpose-built for the university's sports programs.