t body 5.2 Alumni 6 Athletics 7 Student life 7.1 Student o

4.2 Graduate schools and committees
4.3 Professional schools
4.4 Associated academic institutions
4.4.1 Library system
4.5 Research
4.6 Arts
5 People
5.1 Student body
5.2 Alumni
6 Athletics
7 Student life
7.1 Student organizations
7.2 Fraternities and sororities
7.3 Student housing
7.4 Traditions
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links
History[edit]

Main article: History of the University of Chicago


An early convocation ceremony at the University of Chicago
Founding–1910s[edit]
The University of Chicago was created and incorporated as a coeducational,[18] secular institution in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society and a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller on land donated by Marshall Field.[19] Organized as an independent institution legally, it replaced the first Baptist university of the same name, which had closed in 1886 due to extended financial and leadership problems.[20] William Rainey Harper became the modern university's first president on July 1, 1891, and the university opened for classes on October 1, 1892.[20]
The business school was founded in 1898,[21] and the law school was founded in 1902.[22] Harper died in 1906,[23] and was replaced by a succession of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929.[24] During this period, the Oriental Institute was founded to support and interpret archeological work in what was then called the Near East.[25]
In the 1890s, the University of Chicago, fearful that its vast resources would injure smaller schools by drawing away good students, affiliated with severa