WI: University of Chicago and Northwestern merged in the 30's, and other mergers

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Sardar

I was reading some Wiki articles on the University of Chicago and found out that in the thirties, there was a proposal to merge it with Northwestern into the "Universities of Chicago" due to financial difficulties during the Great Depression. This is extremely interesting to me, as both universities at the time were very large and had well-developed research and undergrad programs. They are still some of the most respected and prestigious Unis in the country, and apparently there was a lot of benefit to merging the two. Doing so would have pretty much complemented each school's weaknesses and strengths, as well as solved pretty much all of the financial problems. Graduate and professional schools would have been undertaken in Chicago, and undergrad programs would have been done in Evanston. OTL it failed mainly because of opposition from the two medical schools and certain student and alumni groups, but what if it hadn't? What would be the effects of this merger on Chicago, and the scientific and academic world? Would Chicago have developed into something akin to Silicon Valley, or even replace it? Could Chicago be a more important city than OTL?

Also, I assume that these two were not the only failed mergers in the history of Education, not only in the US, but around the world. What were those failed mergers, and what if they had succeeded? And what would be the knock-on affects of those mergers on the cities and greater world? I'm not an expert on the history of education, but I would definitely like to know more about this.
 

brunohusker

So i'm interested in this, in part because i'm a college football nerd and i've toyed with the idea of making a timeline about Chicago football and the effects of them staying in the Big Ten (basically they'd be Northwestern part 2, but there would still be butterflies, such as Michigan State staying an independent and being more associated with Penn State, Notre Dame, Pitt and other eastern independents to the point Michigan State is a member of the Big East, or some similar league) but if Chicago and Northwestern were to merge into a new University of Chicago (don't know what name they'd give it) but I feel like it'd be a very good university academically speaking. It'd be the Harvard or Yale of the Midwest.

Athletically, such a school would still struggle as it'd be a private institution and would struggle in the Big Ten. I don't know if they'd drop out, but with Hutchins as president of Chicago it's a possibility and thus we might see the Big Ten contract not only to a Big 9 but a Big 8 (fortunately at this time the old Big 8 which included Nebraska and Oklahoma was only the Big 6, and maybe we see a school like Iowa State or Nebraska get added to the league along with Michigan State.)

As for other mergers, I feel like the possibilities are endless. I know in Nebraska some thought that when the University of Omaha became UNO, some thought it would be closed and the University of Nebraska would be the main school for both cities (Omaha and Lincoln are only 52 miles apart.) Don't know if it was ever serious considered but it sounds interesting.

Can't say i've heard of any others.
 

ejpsan

The University of Houston is merged with the University of Texas system to become UT Houston.
The University of California, Los Angeles gets its wish in the '70s and UC San Diego becomes an extension campus.
 
Workable Goblin

Workable Goblin

ejpsan said:
The University of Houston is merged with the University of Texas system to become UT Houston.
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I'm not sure that was ever a serious proposal. You could perhaps get something similar if UH collapses in the 1950s from financial pressures and UT later expands into Houston, as it did with Dallas, but it wouldn't really be a "merger".
 

Sardar

brunohusker said:
So i'm interested in this, in part because i'm a college football nerd and i've toyed with the idea of making a timeline about Chicago football and the effects of them staying in the Big Ten (basically they'd be Northwestern part 2, but there would still be butterflies, such as Michigan State staying an independent and being more associated with Penn State, Notre Dame, Pitt and other eastern independents to the point Michigan State is a member of the Big East, or some similar league) but if Chicago and Northwestern were to merge into a new University of Chicago (don't know what name they'd give it) but I feel like it'd be a very good university academically speaking. It'd be the Harvard or Yale of the Midwest.

Athletically, such a school would still struggle as it'd be a private institution and would struggle in the Big Ten. I don't know if they'd drop out, but with Hutchins as president of Chicago it's a possibility and thus we might see the Big Ten contract not only to a Big 9 but a Big 8 (fortunately at this time the old Big 8 which included Nebraska and Oklahoma was only the Big 6, and maybe we see a school like Iowa State or Nebraska get added to the league along with Michigan State.)

As for other mergers, I feel like the possibilities are endless. I know in Nebraska some thought that when the University of Omaha became UNO, some thought it would be closed and the University of Nebraska would be the main school for both cities (Omaha and Lincoln are only 52 miles apart.) Don't know if it was ever serious considered but it sounds interesting.

Can't say i've heard of any others.
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My guess would be the "Northwestern University of Chicago" or they'd just stick with "Universities of Chicago: Hyde Park Campus, Evanston campus, etc, etc.".

That's what I was thinking too. I feel like because of the merger, it would attract even more talent from the Ivies and possibly make Chicago a major scientific center up until today, comparable to LA, SF, and New York. I'm a huge college football fan as well, and that was what actually led me to the wiki article on them. One of my friends is going to U of C to play football, and I heard it was a former Big 10 school which piqued my interest.

The butterflies in football would definitely be interesting, to say the least.
 
Workable Goblin

Workable Goblin

Sardar said:
My guess would be the "Northwestern University of Chicago" or they'd just stick with "Universities of Chicago: Hyde Park Campus, Evanston campus, etc, etc.".

That's what I was thinking too. I feel like because of the merger, it would attract even more talent from the Ivies and possibly make Chicago a major scientific center up until today, comparable to LA, SF, and New York.
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Uh, but Chicago is a major scientific center? At least in particle physics...
 

Colonel Zoidberg

That would be one hell of a law school - both schools already have amazing reputations in law. Northwestern is top 10 in the country, and U. of Chicago had the likes of Barack Obama as a professor. This could make Chicago the epicenter of law in America if there is one combined law school with that much combined academic prowess that’s already in the third largest city in the country. Even the Ivies would have their hands full competing with the likes of that school.
 

KingSweden24

This is a pretty interesting POD I might have to incorporate into one of my timelines tbh. I’m not a huge fan of the “Universities of Chicago” name but maybe it eventually just takes the name “Chicago University.”
It would definitely be a Harvard/Yale/Stanford level institution though
 

Nivek

KingSweden24 said:
This is a pretty interesting POD I might have to incorporate into one of my timelines tbh. I’m not a huge fan of the “Universities of Chicago” name but maybe it eventually just takes the name “Chicago University.”
It would definitely be a Harvard/Yale/Stanford level institution though
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Chicago University sound lesser than University of Chicago for me
 

Sardar

KingSweden24 said:
This is a pretty interesting POD I might have to incorporate into one of my timelines tbh. I’m not a huge fan of the “Universities of Chicago” name but maybe it eventually just takes the name “Chicago University.”
It would definitely be a Harvard/Yale/Stanford level institution though
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That's why I was thinking "Northwestern University of Chicago" combining the two names, but colloquially it would just be University of Chicago still
 

brunohusker

Sardar said:
My guess would be the "Northwestern University of Chicago" or they'd just stick with "Universities of Chicago: Hyde Park Campus, Evanston campus, etc, etc.".

That's what I was thinking too. I feel like because of the merger, it would attract even more talent from the Ivies and possibly make Chicago a major scientific center up until today, comparable to LA, SF, and New York. I'm a huge college football fan as well, and that was what actually led me to the wiki article on them. One of my friends is going to U of C to play football, and I heard it was a former Big 10 school which piqued my interest.

The butterflies in football would definitely be interesting, to say the least.
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Yeah from what I've gathered UC is Division 3 now which is small time football and doesn't give out scholarships, so its perfect for academic schools like Chicago, or Washington in St. Louis or Case Western Reserve or MIT who are all D3. It was in the Big Ten until 1939 and still technically in the Center for Institutional Cooperation aka the "Academic Big Ten." They were godawful at football towards the end though, and tbh i'm guessing if them and Northwestern were in the league, the battle for Chicago might as well be called the toilet bowl as i'm guessing Chicago would be just as bad as Northwestern was for most of its history. Granted Northwestern did do well once they found some good coaches. Plus maybe one large University might be able to make a Rose Bowl run some years.
 

Muhammad Williams

Yes, unfortunately, in history there are also negative moments related to education. Both then and now it affects the quality of education and students in general. It is good that now in their studies students can use the site https://writix.co.uk/write-my-assignment , which helps to write various papers. With this site I can write my assignment. I wonder if now the methodology of education would make it easier to connect two universities and it would be a necessity.
 
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Paragon

I think the Northwestern/Chicago merger is a situation, academically, where the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Chicago can certainly support two world-class universities. Note this merger proposal was during Robert Maynard Hutchin's tenure as President and he had some rather... heterodox educational philosophies.

As far as silicon valley... Chicago doesn't have much of a chance. Illinois enforces non-complete clauses in employment contracts, for one thing.
 

Sardar

Paragon said:
I think the Northwestern/Chicago merger is a situation, academically, where the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Chicago can certainly support two world-class universities. Note this merger proposal was during Robert Maynard Hutchin's tenure as President and he had some rather... heterodox educational philosophies.

As far as silicon valley... Chicago doesn't have much of a chance. Illinois enforces non-complete clauses in employment contracts, for one thing.
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I was thinking that it would be more so, but why would this combined college be worse off? I would think that when the resources are pooled it would result in greater efficacy and less barriers?
 
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