Three years after founding Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit on the strait between Lakes Saint Clair and Erie in 1700, the French explorer and later colonial governor of Louisiana, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, wrote to King Louis XIV's minister, Louis Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain, in the royal government in Paris from the settlement on August 31.[16] He urged the establishment of a seminary in the newly formed parish of Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit[17] for the education of both Indigenous and French children in piety and the French language.[16][18][19] Cadillac had promised to build the colony into what he described as "Paris de la Nouvelle-France."[20] An establishment of instruction, akin to those in Montréal and Québec, would fulfill his vision.[16] Parish records from 1755 identified a "director of Christian schools," suggesting the influence of the gentle St. John Baptist de La Salle and his famous Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.[18] The colony was surrendered to the British monarchy in 1762 following the French and Indian War. The local French population maintained the Christian schools;[21] however, the British, who viewed the colony merely as a trading post, did practically nothing for education, leading to stagnation during their rule from 1763 to 1796.[21]
When the colony came under the control of the Americans with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the judges of the territorial government were supposed to be called in to formally define the rights and legal status of the Christian schools under the new constitution. In 1806, parish-minister Gabriel Richard, who presided over the Christian schools,[17] petitioned for land to found a college[21][22] and suggested that a lottery might be used to support the academies he headed.[23] Subsequently, in 1817, the Territorial government, at the instigation of both Richard and Judge Augustus B. Woodward[24] and with the support of President Thomas Jefferson,[25] passed "an Act to establish the Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania" within the Territory of Michigan. Enacted on August 26, 1817,[26][27] the Act effectively consolidated the schools into one institution, with Richard serving as vice president and John Monteith as president. Its didactors had authority not only over the university itself but also over education in the territory in general.[28][29] The legislative act was signed into law by Acting Governor and Secretary William Woodbridge, Chief Judge Augustus B. Woodward, and Judge John Griffin.[30]
The Catholepistemiad, 1817–1821 First Annual Report of the University of Michigania, authored by its first president John Monteith, November 16, 1818The term "Catholepistemiad," a neologism derived from a blend of Greek and Latin roots, can be loosely translated as "School of Universal Knowledge".[31] The corporation was modeled after an institution established in France a decade earlier, known as the Université imperial, under Emperor Napoleon.[32][29] It included an array of schools and libraries under a single administration,[33] with the authority to establish additional schools across the territory.[29] It was not until the legislative council passed the territory's first public school law on April 12, 1827, which made basic education a municipal duty,[34] that the corporation focused solely on higher education.[32] In September 1817, the university received a subscription from the Zion Masonic Lodge. Of the total amount subscribed to start the university two-thirds came from Zion Lodge and its members.[35][36]
The cornerstone for the first schoolhouse, situated near the intersection of Bates Street and Congress Street in Detroit, was laid on September 24, 1817, and by the following year, a Lancasterian school, taught by Lemuel Shattuck, and a classical academy were operational.[37] Additional schools were established in Monroe and Mackinaw by the end of September 1817.[38] In 1821, by a new enactment, the university itself was created as a "body politic and corporate",[39] maintaining its corporate status through various modifications to its charter.[38] The new act placed the corporation under the control of a board of trustees.[40] Monteith, no longer president, joined the board, and Richard served on the board until his death in 1832.[41] The trustees continued to manage the schools and classical academy, but established no new schools.[42] By 1827, the first public school law mandated that local governments organize their own school districts within each township.[34] Thereafter, the university ceased its oversight of the territory's preparatory schools and leased the Detroit schoolhouse to private teachers.[42] The following year, the territory's first public school, the Bridge School in Raisinville Township, was created under local governance.[34]
Early years, 1837–1851 Alexander J. Dis's original designs for the university featured the Gothic Revival style. He is generally credited with coining the term "Collegiate Gothic"Following Michigan's admission to the Union in 1837, an organic act was passed on March 18, 1837, to reorganize the university under a twelve-member board of regents.[32] The regents met in Ann Arbor and accepted the town's proposal for the university to relocate,[43][44] based on a 40 acres (16 ha) grant from the Treaty of Fort Meigs[45][46] on Judge Henry Rumsey's farmland.[47]
The approved campus plans for the university were drawn up by the architect Alexander Dis. Dis designed an elaborate Gothic main building with a large lawn in front, wide enues, and botanical gardens, all arranged to evoke the French château aesthetic.[48] He also provided possible sites for future buildings; however, the plans were never executed.[49] Instead, four houses for professors were authorized. Historians attribute the abandonment of the original plan to the financial constraints the university faced as a result of the Panic of 1837.[50][51] Construction began in 1839, and in 1841, Mason Hall, the first campus building, was completed, followed by the construction of South College, a nearly identical building to the south, in 1849, leing a gap for a future grand centerpiece.[49]
From top to bottom: a colored elevation of Mason Hall (1841–1950), the first instructional building on the Ann Arbor campus. Its design inspired North Hall (1851) in Madison, Wisconsin;[52] University of Michigan (1855) by Jasper Francis CropseyThe first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and one sophomore taught by two professors, Joseph Whiting and George Palmer Williams.[53][54] Asa Gray was the first professor appointed following the university's move to Ann Arbor in 1837.[55][56][57][58] He and the regents were both involved in stocking the university library.[59][60] In 1846, Louis Fasquelle, a native of France, was appointed as the first professor of modern languages, primarily teaching French and writing textbooks.[59] French became the first modern language taught at the university. During the first commencement in 1845, eleven graduates, including Judson Collins, were awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees.[61]
In subsequent years, the regents established branches throughout the state to function as preparatory schools for the university.[62] They began with a branch in Pontiac, soon expanding to Kalamazoo, Detroit, Niles, Tecumseh, White Pigeon, and Romeo.[62] However, these branches struggled to enroll students, leading some to merge with local colleges.[62] Notably, Kalamazoo College operated as the Kalamazoo Branch of the University of Michigan from 1840 to 1850.[62]
The administration during the early years of the university was complicated and designed to keep it tightly under state authority. The university's business was often intertwined with state affairs. The position of chancellor of the university, created by the organic act in 1837,[63] was never filled, and the positions on the board of regents, appointed by the governor, were often held by state officials. The lieutenant governor, the justices of the Michigan Supreme Court, and the chancellor of the state all served as ex officio members of the board, with the governor himself chairing the board.[64] The regents' powers were shared with a rotating roster of professors, who were responsible for some vague aspects of the university's administrative duties; however, all important decisions had to be made by the governor and his party.[65][66][67] There were several attempts to gain independence from the state legislature, but progress was slow until the late 1840s, when the regents gained leverage, supported by Michigan citizens.[66] This shift culminated in a revision of the organic act on April 8, 1851, which freed the university from legislative control, transitioned the regent positions from appointed to elected, and established a president selected by the regents.[66]
1851 to 1900Henry Philip Tappan became the university's first president in 1852, with the ambition to shape the institution as a model for future universities. During his decade of service, he overhauled the curriculum,[68] expanded the library and museum collections,[68] established the law school,[32] and supervised the construction of the Detroit Observatory.[68] He secularized faculty appointments by prioritizing merit in selections,[68] breaking away from the retrograde tradition of regents distributing positions among Protestant denominations.[68] In 1855, Michigan became the second university in the country to issue Bachelor of Science degrees.[69] The following year, the country's first chemical laboratory was built on campus, specifically designed for chemistry education, providing additional space for classes and laboratories.[70] Tappan's tenure also saw the creation of the Michigan Glee Club, the oldest student organization at the university, and the publication of the first student newspaper, The Peninsular Phoenix and Gazetteer, in 1857.[71] Despite these accomplishments, Tappan's 11-year presidency was marked by considerable tension.[68] His impartial stance on religion faced backlash during a time of heightened religious fervor.[68] Due to changes in the Board of Regents and discontent with his administration, he was forced to resign in 1863.[68]
Mason Hall, with a statue of Benjamin Franklin in front. Photograph taken prior to 1870In 1863, Erastus Otis Hen took office as president, hing been a professor at the time and needing to prove his right for the presidency.[72] The campus was divided by conflicting views among students, faculty, and regents regarding Tappan's restoration, the homeopathy crisis, and the Civil War.[72] Hen's administration faced routine administrative difficulties and struggled to garner support for increased state aid, despite achieving modest gains.[72] The university, which had received a fixed $15,000 since 1869, still required additional funding.[72] Frustrated, Hen resigned in 1869 to become president of Northwestern, a Methodist institution, a move that sectarians viewed as a setback for secular colleges.[72] The presidency remained vacant from 1869 to 1871, with Professor Henry Simmons Frieze serving as acting president.[73] During this period, the university raised funds for University Hall, overhauled admissions with a diploma system, and introduced coeducation.[73] Women were first admitted in 1870,[74] although Alice Robinson Boise Wood was the first woman to attend classes in 1866.[75] In 1870, Gabriel Franklin Hargo graduated from the law school as the second African American to graduate from a law school in the United States.[76] In 1871, Sarah Killgore became the first woman to graduate from law school and be admitted to the bar of any state in the United States.[77] Frieze, a champion of music education, also established the University Musical Society.[73] By the late 1860s, the university had become one of the largest in the nation, alongside Harvard in Cambridge.[78] However, it faced ongoing issues with student discipline, including class rushes, instances of hazing, and rowdiness in chapel.[79][73] Frieze attributed these problems to a lack of centralized faculty control.[73]
University Hall (center, 1872–1950), flanked by Mason Hall (left, 1841–1950) and South College (right, 1849–1950), was located partly on the grounds of present-day Angell HallJames Burrill Angell became president in 1871 and would remain in the post for nearly four decades.[80] His tenure would be remembered as the most successful in the university's history.[80] Tappan's reforms in the 1850s set the university on a path to becoming an elite institution, but it was Angell who completed that transformation.[80] Shortly after Angell's arrival, University Hall was completed at vast expense; it would remain the university's major academic building right up until the 1950s.[80] During his presidency, Angell restored campus discipline,[79][80] raised entrance and graduation requirements,[80] and persuaded the legislature to increase state aid.[80] Angell's tenure saw the addition of many extracurricular activities, including the intercollegiate football team.[80] Though a reformer, Angell was not authoritarian; he encouraged open debate and aimed for near-unanimous agreement before implementing changes, rather than pushing through with only a narrow majority.[80] This approach enabled him to address knotty issues on campus, including the long-standing homeopathy problem.[80] Angell transformed the curriculum to focus on electives, expanding course offerings.[79] That led to a faculty of great minds in many fields, from John Dewey in philosophy to Frederick George Novy in bacteriology.[81] In 1875, the university founded the College of Dental Surgery, followed by the establishment of the College of Pharmacy by Albert B. Prescott in 1876. That year, the university awarded its first Doctor of Philosophy degrees: to Victor C. Vaughan in chemistry and William E. Smith in zoology.[82][83] They were among the first doctoral degrees to be conferred in the nation.[82] The university remained the only institution in the state to grant PhD degrees until the late 1940s.[84]
"Stand up for America; devote your life to its cause; love your homes, and prove as worthy of our cherished free institutions as they are worthy of your allegiance and service. Let not the high standard of National Honor, raised by the fathers, be lowered by their sons. Let learning, liberty and law be exalted and enthroned."
William McKinley, speaking to the first National Convention of the College Republicans in Newberry Hall in 1892[85] Literary Class of 1880 (includes Mary Henrietta Graham, the first African American woman graduate of the University of Michigan)With his presidency, Angell focused the university on preparing a new generation of statesmen for public service.[80] Angell himself was frequently called upon by the White House for diplomatic missions.[80] In 1880, President Rutherford Hayes appointed him as Minister to China, where he successfully negotiated an immigration treaty that facilitated foreign student enrollment.[80] Later, in 1887, 1896, and 1897, President Grover Cleveland appointed him to fisheries and waterways commissions.[80] That same year, President William McKinley named him Envoy Extraordinary to Turkey.[80] By the late 19th century, the university had gained an international reputation, in large part due to Angell's diplomatic efforts.[80] During this period, over eighty subjects of the Emperor of Japan were sent to Ann Arbor to study law as part of the opening of that empire to external influence.[86] The university also played a key role in developing the Philippine education, legal, and public health systems during American colonization, largely due to the contributions of Michigan alumni like Dean Conant Worcester and George A. Malcolm.[87] Angell retired in 1909, and seven years later, he died in the President's House, which had been his home for forty-five years.[80] His successor, Harry Burns Hutchins, who was once his student, would lead the university through World War I and the Great Influenza epidemic.[80]
1900 to 1950 Law Quadrangle, ca. 1930sIn 1910, Harry Burns Hutchins assumed the presidency, becoming the first alumnus to hold that position.[88] He had spent seven years in Ithaca, New York, where he was called by Andrew Dickson White and Charles Kendall Adams to establish the Cornell Law School.[88] Hutchins then became the dean of the law school at his alma mater, where he introduced the case method of instruction.[88] Hutchins was acting president when Angell was absent.[88] During his presidency, Hutchins established the Graduate School,[88] doubled enrollment,[88] and increased the faculty.[88] He secured more state aid and alumni support to fund the university's capital needs,[88] including the gothic Law Quadrangle,[89] Martha Cook Building,[90] Hill Auditorium, and Michigan Union, which became campus landmarks. Hutchins enhanced the university health service,[88] but wartime distractions plagued his presidency. The influenza epidemic, which caused student deaths from poor care, deeply troubled him.[88] Well-liked by the regents who encouraged him to remain president, nonetheless, Hutchins retired in 1920.[88]
A 1907 postcard illustrated by F. Earl Christy that features a Michigan football themeThe 1920s at the university were marked by the brief tenures of two presidents, Marion LeRoy Burton and Clarence Cook Little.[91] In 1920, when Burton assumed office, a conference on higher education took place at the university, resulting in the establishment of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.[92] Under his leadership, construction boomed on campus,[92] and enrollments increased,[92] propelled by the prosperous economy of the Roaring Twenties. He initiated the annual honors convocation,[92] introduced the deans' conference,[92] and increased university income.[92] Burton fell ill in 1924 and died in 1925.[92] In this emergency, President Emeritus Hutchins was called by the regents to assist, with Alfred Henry Lloyd serving as acting president until Little's arrival.[92] Clarence Cook Little was elected president in 1925.[93] He was considered a polarizing figure due to his progressive stance, which alienated many Roman Catholics. The proposal for establishing a nonsectarian divinity school on campus came after strong advocacy from Charles Foster Kent and received unanimous backing from nearby churches.[94] However, this school was short-lived and was quietly shelved in 1927 during Little's presidency.[94] Little advocated for individualized education[93] and sought to reform curricula, particularly for women.[93] He proposed a curriculum division after two years of study to address knowledge gaps, which led to the University College proposal. This initiative was ultimately abandoned following his resignation in 1929.[93]
H.A. Kramers, second row, sixth left with J. Robert Oppenheimer, second row, fourth left, in a photograph of the Summer Symposium on Theoretical Physics in 1931 at the University of MichiganFollowing Little's resignation, Alexander Grant Ruthven, an alumnus, was elected president by unanimous vote.[95] He would lead the university through the Great Depression and World War II.[95] Under Ruthven's leadership, the university administration became more decentralized with the creation of the university council, various divisions, and a system of committees.[95] For years, the university was a backwater in theoretical physics. Nonetheless, this changed under department head Harrison McAllister Randall, who brought theorists Samuel Goudsmit, George Uhlenbeck, and Otto Laporte onto the faculty.[96] Goudsmit mentored famous students at the university, including Robert Bacher and Wu Ta-You, the Father of Chinese Physics, who in turn taught Zhu Guangya and two Nobel laureates, Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee. From 1928 to 1941, the Summer Symposium in Theoretical Physics featured renowned physicists like Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac, and Erwin Schrödinger, with at least fifteen attendees being Nobel laureates or future laureates.[97] Wolfgang Pauli held a visiting professorship at the university in 1931.[98] Stephen Timoshenko created the first U.S. bachelor's and doctoral programs in engineering mechanics when he was a faculty professor at the university. In 1948, shortly after World War II, the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project was established to honor the hundreds of lives lost from the university during the war.[99][32] Funded by numerous contributors, including the Ford Motor Company, the Phoenix Project operated the Ford Nuclear Reactor, which established the nation's first academic program in nuclear science and engineering.[100]
1950 to presentFor most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Michigan stood as the sole university within the state, and its alumni often dominated state politics. However, by the mid-20th century, the landscape began to shift as new universities emerged, many of which were former technical schools, thereby threatening that status quo.[101] When Harlan Hatcher took office as president in 1951, he was entrusted with securing the university's preeminence among the nation and world's burgeoning research institutions. This marked the beginning of a phase of post-war development, during which Hatcher oversaw the construction of North Campus, the founding of Flint Senior College, and the establishment of the Dearborn Center, both of which he since evolved into full-fledged branch campuses.[102][103] Nonetheless, the tenures of Hatcher and his successor, Robben Wright Fleming, were marked by a sharp rise in campus activism, linked to the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement.[102] In 1963, a controversial set of admissions practices collectively known as 'affirmative action' was introduced.[104] It was a radical measure originated by Hobart Taylor Jr., aimed at boosting Black student enrollment at elite universities.[104] Meanwhile, in 1964, a group of faculty hosted the nation's first "teach-in" against U.S. foreign policy in Southeast Asia, attended by thousands of students.[105][106] Thereafter, sit-ins by campus groups prompted administrative crackdowns, leading to more unrest across the campus.[102] Meanwhile, Hatcher controversially dismissed three professors for their refusal to cooperate with Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee during his tenure.[107] Hatcher's successor, Robben Wright Fleming guided the university through a turbulent era of activism.[102] In 1969, a year into Fleming's tenure, a Marxist militant organization known as the Weather Underground was founded on campus.[108] This group, led by members of the Jesse James Gang, an offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society, employed militant tactics, including taking hostages.[102] A year later, a strike organized by the Black Action Movement, another radical group, resulted in the university agreeing to several demands for minority support.[109] In 1971, the Spectrum Center was founded as the nation's oldest collegiate LGBT student center.[110] Meanwhile, support among students for marijuana legalization was gaining traction on campus, as evidenced by the annual Hash Bash rally that began in 1972.[111] Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, campus unrest began to diminish the university's academic standing, which had been ranked among the top five in the nation.[101] That standing started to decline during Fleming's tenure. Campus unrest persisted during Harold Tafler Shapiro's presidency, which began in 1980, fueled by controversies surrounding the university's national defense initiatives and foreign investments.
A celebratory dinner for the university's matriculating PhD students in 2017President James Duderstadt would succeed Shapiro and remain president until 1996.[112] He supported campus growth and fundraising initiatives. Duderstadt's successor, Lee Bollinger, conducted several major construction projects like the School of Social Work building[113] and the Tisch Hall, named in honor of alumnus Preston Robert Tisch.[114] In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases regarding the university's affirmative action admissions: Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger. In 2002, the university elected its first female president, Mary Sue Coleman, by unanimous vote.[115][116] Throughout her presidency, Michigan's endowment saw continued growth, accompanied by a major fundraising drive known as "The Michigan Difference".[117] The Coleman's administration faced labor disputes with the university's labor unions, notably with the Lecturers' Employees Organization and the Graduate Employees Organization.[118] In the early 2000s, the university faced declining state funding, prompting suggestions for privatization.[119][120] Despite being a state institution de jure, it adopted private funding models.[121] A 2008 legislative panel further recommended converting it to a private institution due to its minimal ties to the state.[122] Mark Schlissel succeeded Coleman in 2014. Before his firing in 2022, Schlissel expanded financial aid offerings,[123] enhanced international engagement,[124] and raised student diversity.[125] He also led initiatives in biosciences[126] and the arts.[127] Schlissel's successor, Santa Ono, would serve a short and lackluster tenure amid the national pro-Palestinian protests[128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136] before his immediate resignation.[137] The presidency has remained vacant since then, with Domenico Grasso serving as the interim president.[138]
Historical links University presidents Harry Burns Hutchins, left, and James Burrill Angell, center, with Cornell University founder Andrew Dickson White, right, in a 1900s photographThe founding of the University of Michigan in the 19th century was influenced by the transatlantic Republic of Letters, an intellectual community that spanned Europe and the Americas.[68] Key figures, such as Henry Philip Tappan, were instrumental in aligning the university with the ideals championed by the intellectual community, including liberty, reason, and scientific inquiry.[68] Alumni and faculty from Michigan, like Andrew Dixon White, carried these ideals forward as they shaped other institutions.[139][140] Notably, Cornell alumni Did Starr Jordan and John Casper Branner later introduced these concepts to Stanford University in the late 19th century.[139] Early university leaders like James Burrill Angell contributed to establishing other universities by sharing their insights.[80] Alongside Charles William Eliot of Harvard, Andrew D. White of Cornell, and Noah Porter of Yale, Angell was heily involved in the early period of Johns Hopkins University as an advisor to the trustees and recommended Daniel Coit Gilman as the first president of the wealthy new foundation.[141] Clark Kerr, the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, referred to Michigan as the "mother of state universities."[101]
University of California: had its early planning based upon the University of Michigan.[a][142][143] University of Chicago: Michigan alumnus Robert Ezra Park played a leading role in the development of the Chicago School of sociology. The University of Chicago Laboratory School was founded in 1896 by John Dewey and Calvin Brainerd Cady, who were members of the Michigan faculty. Cornell University: Andrew Dixon White and Charles Kendall Adams, the first and second presidents of Cornell, respectively, were members of the Michigan faculty. Cornell had its Law School founded by Michigan alumni Charles Kendall Adams and Harry Burns Hutchins. Six of the fourteen past presidents of Cornell University he had connections to the University of Michigan. Edmund Ezra Day, the fifth president, was the founding dean of Michigan's business school. Frank H. T. Rhodes, the ninth president, spent three years as vice president of academic affairs at Michigan. Martha E. Pollack, the fourteenth president, served as provost at Michigan from 2013 to 2017. Additionally, Jeffrey S. Lehman received his graduate degrees from Michigan.[140] Harvard University: Michigan alumnus Edwin Francis Gay was the founding dean of the Harvard Business School from 1908 to 1919,[144] instrumental in the school's planning. Johns Hopkins University: had its pharmacology department established by John Jacob Abel, an alumnus of Michigan. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: had its Media Lab co-founded by Michigan alumnus Jerome Wiesner. Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Media Lab, has held a visiting professorship at the University of Michigan. Northwestern University: Michigan alumnus Henry Wade Rogers was instrumental in transforming Northwestern from a small cluster of colleges into a major, nationally recognized university. His wife, Emma Winner Rogers, founded the Northwestern University Settlement Association.[145] Syracuse University: Alexander Winchell and Erastus O. Hen, the first and second chancellors of Syracuse University, respectively, were members of the Michigan faculty. University of Washington: Charles Odegaard, who served as president of the University of Washington from 1958 to 1973 and is credited with elevating its academic standing, was previously the dean of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Wellesley College: Michigan alumna Alice Freeman Palmer, the president of Wellesley College from 1881 to 1887, "transformed the fledgling school from one devoted to Christian domesticity into one of the nation's premier colleges for women."[146] Yale University: had its residential college system co-organized by James Rowland Angell, a graduate of Michigan.[147] Michigan alumnus Henry Wade Rogers introduced the "case system" and the college degree requirement into the Yale Law School.