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Period: 1000 to 1492
Pre-Colonial (mostly Medieval European) Influences
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1088
University of Bologna is founded
According to the University of Bologna's "Our History" webpage, the "Bologna 'Studium' was founded by students and for students" ("independently of the ecclesiastic schools") in 1088 and "is the oldest university in the Western world." (Source: https://www.unibo.it/en/university/who-we-are/our-history/the-numbers-of-history) -
1202
Fibonacci publishes "Liber Abaci"
The influential work introduces medieval Europe to the Hindu-Arabic numeral system and advocates for its adoption, ushering in the age of "modern math" in the West. (Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-man-behind-modern-math-1440227497) -
1229
University of Paris students strike
A two-year period beginning in March 1229 during which the University of Paris was closed after student riots. This led to a "Great Dispersion" of the institution's scholars across Europe. University alumnus Pope Gregory IX eventually issued the "Parens Scientiarum" bull, guaranteeing independence and self-governance for the university. (DOI: 10.20318/cian.2018.4192) -
1256
Thomas Aquinas writes "Disputed Questions on Truth"
Medieval theologian, philosopher, and scholar Aquinas's "Questiones disputatae de veritate" is a collection of questions on aspects of faith and knowledge, including the topics of predestination, conscience, and God's will. (Source: https://dhspriory.org/thomas/QDdeVer.htm) -
1347
The Black Death arrives in Europe
The Bubonic plague, one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, is estimated to killed nearly one-third of Europe's population. This demographic impact has profound social, economic, and cultural implications, including for higher education. (Source: https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death) -
Harvard University (née College) is founded
It was established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and named after John Harvard, an early benefactor of the College. (Source: https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/histor)y -
Period: to
The Colonies in America
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The first medical school in America is founded
The College of Philadelphia (later known as the University of Pennsylvania) was home to the nation's first school of medicine. It was founded by Dr. John Morgan, who graduated from the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine. (Source: https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-history/school-histories/medicine#) -
Dartmouth College, the last of the "original nine" colonial colleges, is founded
Darmouth "had begun with a specific intention of bringing the Indians into the fold" (Cohen et al., p. 22). Yet, as Thelin observes, "Most of the Indian students who showed up at the colleges succumbed either to measles, consumption, or alcoholism. Pedagogically and philosophically, they became trapped between worlds." The oppression of American Indians is, alas, a recurring theme in the nation's history of higher education. -
The colonies declare independence from Great Britain
Five of the first six presidents of the United States were college-trained. According to Cohen et al., "the nation was founded by an educated minority whose writings evidenced their dedication to classical and contemporary political philosophy." (p. 53). -
Noah Webster publishes his "Blue-backed Speller"
Webster's "Elementary Spelling Book" helped to standardize American spelling while teaching generations of American schoolchildren how to read. "Pioneer families on the frontiers taught their children to read from it; in the schools it was a basic textbook, and in settlements and villages its lists were read out for lively spelling matches," according to The Columbia Encyclopedia. (Source: https://search-credoreference-com.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/content/entry/columency/webster_noah/0) -
Period: to
The Emergent Nation
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The Louisiana Purchase Treaty is ratified by the Senate
The legislation nearly doubled the size of the nation. The "general feeling of expansiveness that swept across the United States" (Cohen & Kisker, p. 63) during this time helped open the west to new settlers and, subsequently, institution building. (Source: https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/louisiana-lewis-clark/the-louisiana-purchase/) -
Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward is decided by the Supreme Court
The decision found that private corporations, including colleges and universities, "were held to be inviolable" (Cohen & Kisker, p. 65). According to Thelin, the case's "delineation of clear, strong powers for the academic corporation of Dartmouth College was a 'victory' for all colleges and universities, whether they are what we would today call 'private' or 'public'" (loc 1877). (Image: https://250.dartmouth.edu/highlights/dartmouth-college-case-decided-us-supreme-court) -
The Yale Report is signed by the faculty of Yale College
The function of today's undergraduate curriculum "is to instill knowledge and skills that students can bring to bear in whatever work they eventually choose. This philosophy of education corresponds with that expressed in the Yale Report of 1828, which draws a distinction between 'expanding [the mind’s] powers, and storing it with knowledge.'" (Source: https://yalecollege.yale.edu/academics) -
Oberlin College is founded
Oberlin, located in Ohio, was the first college in the United States "to adopt a policy to admit black students (1835) and the first to grant bachelor’s degrees to women (1841) in a coeducational program." (Source: https://www.oberlin.edu/about-oberlin/oberlin-history) -
Seven slave-holding states secede from the United States
Four other states joined the Confederate States of America, an act of rebellion which spurred the American Civil War (1861–1865). The war had a dramatic impact on the social, cultural, and historical fabric of the nation, and its effects have rippled throughout the years, including into the present day. (Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Confederate-States-of-America) -
The Morrill Act of 1862 is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln
"An Act Donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts." Along with the Morrill Act of 1890, this legislation led to the establishment and funding of numerous land-grant colleges and universities in the United States. (Source: https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=33&page=transcript) -
Period: to
Industrialization
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Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland
Modeled on Heidelberg University in Germany, "America's first research university" (source: jhu.edu/about) would go on to "inspire future generations of academic leaders as a model of graduate study," according to Thelin (loc 2208). But, notes Thelin, "aspiring competitors fell drastically short of its example well into the twentieth century." -
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania is founded
"American entrepreneur and industrialist Joseph Wharton established the world’s first collegiate school of business at the University of Pennsylvania—a radical idea that revolutionized both business practice and higher education" (source: https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/about-wharton). According to Thelin (loc 2137), though exceptional, "The Wharton School was one of many examples in which the lines between liberal and professional education were blurred." (Photo: Flickr/Arvind Krishnamoorthy) -
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is formed
The AAU comprises North America's leading research universities, 60 from the U.S. and two from Canada (source: aau.edu). The "founders of the association included five state institutions, five formerly colonial colleges, and five that were founded as universities committed to graduate study from the outset. These were the institutions that set the standards for graduate study and research" (Cohen & Kisker, p 114). -
The Flexner Report is published
Written by Abraham Flexner and supported by the Carnegie Foundation, the document on medical education in the U.S. and Canada "exposed conditions that stimulated reforms revolutionizing the preparation of physicians" (Cohen & Kisker, p. 183). Nearly 30% of U.S. medical schools closed in the two years following the report's release, although most "did so because of financial problems" rather than in response to the report (Thelin, loc 3347). -
The Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified
According to Cohen & Kisker, this "enabled the government to restrain some of the immense individual fortune building. Not incidentally, it led to the expansion of philanthropic foundations" as tax havens. Then, as now, such foundations "became useful in supporting research and several other areas within higher education" (p. 108). -
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is established
Since 1915, "the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country's colleges and universities" (source: aaup.org/about-aaup). The organization advocated for the role of faculty in institutional governance and its 1940 Statement of Principle defined academic freedom (Cohen & Kisker, p. 139). -
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) is formed
Along with the Students' Army Training Corps (SATC), the ROTC program "allowed male students to enlist, stay on campus, and receive military training" from the U.S. Armed Forces (Cohen & Kisker, p 117). American universities would continue to play a significant role in war-related efforts, especially through government-funded research, well into the 20th century. (Photo: University of Rochester) -
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act (GI Bill) is signed into law by Congress
According to Cohen and Kisker, the GI Bill "ushered in the Mass Higher Education Era" by establishing the belief that "everyone could go to college," not just the elite few. As a government entitlement, the bill provided several benefits to veterans including "a year of unemployment insurance; medical care; counseling services; and tuition, books, and living expenses while attending any educational program" (p. 194-5). -
Period: to
Mass Education
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The National Science Foundation is created by Congress
NSF is an independent federal agency created "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense" through basic research and knowledge creation. Today, NSF is "the funding source for approximately 24 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities." (Source: www.nsf.gov/about/) -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision is handed down
This Supreme Court ruling was the breakthrough challenge to the concept of "separate but equal" and overturned the legalities of segregation. The Warren Court (led by Chief Justice Early Warren) "ruled that separating children solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority, therefore separate educational facilities are inherently unequal; the Court extended the ruling to higher education in Florida ex rel. Hawkins v. Board of Control (1956)" (Cohen & Kisker, p. 195). -
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities is formed
For nearly 60 years, AASCU "has worked with its member institutions to deliver on the American promise of access, affordability and educational opportunity," and beneficiaries have included GIs, African-Americans, women, first-generation students, and many others. "Today approximately 4 million students—more than half of all students who attend public, four-year colleges and universities—attend institutions that are members of AASCU." Source: https://aascu.org/anniversary.aspx -
The Higher Education Act of 1965 is signed into US law
This omnibus bill, part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda, aimed to strengthen educational resources for colleges and universities. It included "sections covering financial aid to students, construction of facilities, aid to institutions that wanted to work on societal issues, and not least, the directive that each state establish a coordinating agency for higher education," according to Cohen and Kisker (p. 254). -
The shooting at Kent State University occurred
"Kent State University was placed into the international spotlight after 13 students were shot by members of the Ohio National Guard at a student demonstration. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded, including one who was permanently paralyzed from his injury." The incident propelled the campus antiwar movement into mainstream American consciousness (Thelin, loc 6300). (Source: https://www.library.kent.edu/special-collections-and-archives/kent-state-shootings-may-4-collection) -
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (featuring section 504) is signed into law
This legislative milestone banned discrimination based on disability by recipients of federal funds, including virtually all colleges and universities. The act marked the first time the segregation and exclusion of people with disabilities constituted discrimination, as well as the first time people with disabilities were viewed as a class. It helped paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. (Photo: https://disabilityawareness.us/rehabilitation-act-of-1973) -
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is signed into law
FERPA is a federal law that protects student privacy by governing access to educational information and records. Generally, FERPA "prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education records." FERPA applies to all educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under any program administered by the US Department of Education. (Source: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/students.html) -
The University of Phoenix is founded
One of the leading for-profit universities by the mid-90s, the University of Phoenix comprises a "multistate network of sites [relying] on 'distance learning' technology to offer both coursework and degree programs" (Thelin, loc. 6884). Because federal student financial aid initiatives "had not explicitly defined the kinds of institutions that were eligible, many proprietary schools [now] petitioned for eligibility to participate in student financial aid programs." (Thelin, loc. 6864). -
Period: to
Maintaining a Diverse System
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National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University (1980) is decided
The Supreme Court ruled that full-time faculty at Yeshiva University, a private institution, had "managerial responsibilities such that they would not be covered as employees under the federal National Labor Relations Act." The case affected "the rights of faculty members to organize into bargaining units and have those units recognized by the governing board of their institution" (Cohen & Kisker, p. 351). (Photo: https://www.yu.edu/yeshiva-college/mission-history) -
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System is created
IPEDS is "a system of interrelated surveys conducted annually by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)." The data—gathered from all institutions that participate in federal student financial aid programs—track enrollments, program completions, graduation rates, faculty and staff, finances, institutional prices, and student financial aid. (Source: https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/about-ipeds)
