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1000
Studium Generale
European revival of scholarship and considered the origination of the university. This was a place where students from any background or hometown were welcome. Ultimately this also came to mean learning from a "master". Began approximately 1000 and lasted through 1099. -
1079
Peter Abelard is born
A French theologian and philosopher who was felt to be the “founder of universities”. Also known for his scholarship around universals and his use of dialectics. -
1088
University of Bologna
Founded in 1088 and felt to be the “first” European university. Located in Bologna, Italy it still remains open today. -
1229
University of Paris Strike
The University of Paris strike followed a student riot in which several students attacked a local tavern. The monarchy stepped in to police the students, who felt the regal punishment was unfair as the University was under protection from the church and not the king’s jurisdiction. The strike lasted 2 years and resulted in many reforms to the medieval university. -
1231
Bull “Parens Scientiarum”
Issued by Pope Gregory IX to provide independence and self-governance to the university by placing it under papal patronage, ending the 1229 Paris strike. -
Harvard College
Founded as the first colonial university by residents of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it modeled after Emmanuel College, Cambridge and aligned with the Puritan church. -
The Great Awakening
In America, this period of time was similar to the Enlightenment that occurred in Europe. The Great Awakening was the revival of religious reform in the colonies after which there was additional separation of the Church and more books and education started to occur in English rather than Latin. Lasted until approximately 1749. -
Importance of mathematics recognized
Yale is the first to add arithmetic as a requirement for matriculation. Previously curriculum focused on Latin, Greek, rhetoric and often theology. -
The College of Philadelphia
The first and only non-sectarian colonial college was The College of Philadelphia, later to become the University of Pennsylvania. It also differed from other colonial colleges by laying out a 3-year curriculum with more math and science added to the classical and rhetorical studies. -
Graduation rates remain low
The United States reaches a population of over 4,000,000, but in the colonial era less than 5,000 students total have graduated from 9 colonial colleges in the colonial era. -
United States Military Academy at West Point Founded
This was the first US military college and was supported by legislation signed by President Thomas Jefferson. -
The Dartmouth Case
A Supreme Court landmark decision that upheld Dartmouth’s colonial charter as opposed to allowing the New Hampshire government to force it to become a public institution. This subsequently set a precedent for business contracts. -
Yale Report of 1828
Report written by the Yale President and faculty to endorse and protect the classical curriculum including ancient languages and the liberal arts. They felt that students needed a broad education as opposed to a vocationally focused study in order to better exercise their minds. -
Mount Holyoke Women's Seminary Founded
This was the first of the women's colleges in the US specifically for women's higher education, and is still open today. It spurred the founding of several others including Knox University, Wesleyan Female Seminary, and Masonic University. Most of these schools arose primarily in the West. -
The Morrill Land-Grant College Act
This legislative act provided federal funding for agricultural minded colleges by the sale of US land. Ultimately supported both public and private colleges. -
Second Morrill Land-Grant Act
This second agricultural education act was designed to specifically fund colleges in the south that did not discriminate students based on race. It also helped to increase the number of Midwest public institutions. -
College Education Examination Board
The CEEB was formed by the American Association of Universities and administered the first standardized testing to be used as admissions criteria. This was a new way of representing academic merit and was felt to be an indicator of future student success. -
The Flexner Report
Abraham Flexner wrote a report that called for standardization of medical schooling with higher admission and graduation standards based on science and up to date research. It saw the end of many medical proprietary schools and helped to ultimately create medicine as a profession. -
“1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure”
The American Association of University Professors was founded and first published a set of principles demanding academic freedom and economic security. This included standards for tenure and the group heard and reviewed cases of professional dismissal. -
ROTC
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps formed and allowed male students to enlist, stay on campus, and receive military training. -
GI Bill
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) was a legislative act that allowed returning veterans access to free education based on their time served, and flooded the current higher education institutions with applicants. -
Brown v Board of Education
A court case in which the Supreme Court ruled that separate is inherently unequal, and though it did not directly affect higher education, it set a precedent from which to help desegregate higher education. -
Shelton v. Tucker
A case in which the Supreme Court rejected as unconstitutional a state law requiring faculty at public institutions to provide information on their membership in or financial support of any organizations. This was particularly important during the McCarthy era with the persecution of communism putting Academic Freedom at risk. -
Higher Education Act of 1965
As part of LBJ’s “Great Society,” this Act focused on access and funding for students for their tuition and expenses rather than research, but also provided grants for other college services. It greatly expanded federal involvement in higher education. -
Title IX
Title IX of American Education was an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and signed into law by President Nixon. This prohibited sex bias in any educational program or activity. Its biggest effect is remembered to be in educationally sponsored athletics. -
Age Discrimination Act
Prohibited discrimination on the basis of age in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. This was supported in 1978 by Purdie v University of Utah when the Utah Supreme Court ruled in favor of a 51 yo female who had applied to the educational psychology department and rejected as too old. -
Beach v University of Utah
A court decision that determined that it was unrealistic to expect universities to take custody of adult students (students over the age of 18 since the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age). However, institutions were still expected to maintain a safe environment for students. -
Equal Pay Act
Applied to require a salary adjustment for all female faculty after a case in which plaintiffs presented evidence that the school president had said that male faculty should be paid more. However, Title VII supported that even if female faculty was not doing the same work, their jobs had comparable worth. -
Doherty v Southern College of Optometry
A court case in which the federal appellate court ruled that applicants must be accepted in spite of their handicaps if they could become qualified to participate in the program with the aid of reasonable accommodations. This reinforced the requirement that institutions provide adequate facilities for disabled students, like ramps. This was later supported by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. -
The Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act
Required colleges to provide information about graduation rates and to submit reports of crime on campus, supporting further transparency about and within higher education. -
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
Made undocumented students ineligible for tuition, scholarship, and financial aid benefits. However, states have the ability to pass specific legislation allowing this, which had been done by ten states as of 2006. -
Tax Relief Act
Allowed students who were working to deduct tuition payments on their federal tax returns. This, in turn, encouraged evening and weekend programs to the working public. -
Decreased Remediation
CUNY’s Board of Trustees approved a plan to cut all remedial courses at its senior colleges, instead encouraging community colleges to fill this role. The plan predicted a nationwide change in the percentage of 4-year public universities offering remedial courses which dropped from 85 to 76%. -
Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger
Two University of Michigan affirmative action cases that allowed an affirmative action policy using percentages if race was not the sole reason for admission, and invalidated a point system used in favor of underrepresented minorities. -
Virginia Tech Massacre
A nationwide tragedy in which severely depressed student killed 5 faculty and 27 students on the Virginia Tech campus. This called campus safety and liability of the institution into question, as well as raise awareness for mental health and concern for student well-being.
