# University of Chicago *Private research university in Chicago, Illinois. In this record it is cited for the Cannon private-right-of-action line and as the law school of one Hennepin County Attorney.* The University of Chicago is a privately governed research university in Chicago's Hyde Park community area in Illinois. It has an undergraduate college, four graduate research divisions and seven professional schools, one of which is the [[University of Chicago Law School]].[^1] In the Minnesota record the university appears in three roles. First, it is the law school of [[Amy Klobuchar]] (J.D. 1985). She is the one holder among the last four [[Hennepin County Attorney]]s who did not graduate from the [[University of Minnesota Law School]].[^2][^3][^4][^5] Second, it is the named party in *[[Cannon v. University of Chicago]]* (1979), the Supreme Court decision on implied private rights of action. The Eighth Circuit applied that decision in *[[Female Athletes United v. Ellison]]* (2026).[^6][^7] Third, its law school published scholarship that the project's dossiers cite.[^8] ## Who A board of trustees governs the university. The board has 55 members, and the president is one of them.[^1] Reporting to the president are the provost, fourteen vice presidents and twelve deans. David Rubenstein has chaired the board since May 2022, and Katherine Baicker was named provost in March 2023. The chemist Paul Alivisatos took office as president on September 1, 2021.[^1] ## What The professional schools cover business, social work, theology, public policy, law, medicine and molecular engineering, and there is also a continuing-studies school.[^1] The university runs the University of Chicago Press, which Wikipedia describes as the largest university press in North America. It also runs the University of Chicago Medical Center and administers Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.[^1] The Higher Learning Commission accredits the university, and its academic year is divided into four quarters. Its Metallurgical Laboratory achieved the first human-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction, Chicago Pile-1, beneath the stands of Stagg Field.[^1] ## When A predecessor institution was incorporated in 1857 by a group of Baptist educators. It shut in 1886 after its creditors foreclosed on its property, and in 1890 its trustees renamed it the Old University of Chicago.[^1] In 1890 the American Baptist Education Society chartered the present university, which admitted both men and women. William Rainey Harper took office as president on July 1, 1891, and teaching started on October 1, 1892.[^1] The university was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference. In 1939 president Robert Maynard Hutchins de-emphasized varsity athletics and dropped football, and in 1946 the university left the conference. Football returned at the Division III level in 1969.[^1] In 2018 the university stopped requiring SAT or ACT scores from college applicants. It was the first major research university to do so.[^1] ## Where The main campus covers 217 acres (87.8 ha) in the Hyde Park and Woodlawn neighborhoods, about eight miles (13 km) south of downtown Chicago. The Midway Plaisance divides the campus into northern and southern parts. The original Main Quadrangles were built in Victorian and Collegiate Gothic styles patterned on the colleges of Oxford.[^1] Outside Chicago, the university has a campus in Hong Kong and academic centers in London, Paris, Beijing, Delhi and Luxor. It also has a center in downtown Chicago.[^1] ## How much At its 1890 founding, the society used $400,000 in gifts to add to $600,000 from John D. Rockefeller. Marshall Field donated the land.[^1] In 2024 the following figures applied:[^1] - The endowment was valued at about $10.1 billion, the 21st largest among American educational institutions and state university systems. - The combined annual budget was $5.2 billion, with university operations accounting for a further $2.6 billion. - Total assets were valued at $20.3 billion. Since 2016 the board of trustees has not acted on student and faculty calls to divest from fossil fuel companies. As of 2024, those holdings remained in the endowment.[^1] As of 2026, the Undergraduate Student Government's annual budget exceeded $2.5 million.[^1] ## How many In fall 2025 the university enrolled 7,496 undergraduates, 11,195 graduate students and 408 non-degree students. In fall 2023 it employed 3,418 academic staff and 23,217 administrative staff, a figure that includes the medical center.[^1] The college's acceptance rate fell from 71% in 1996 to 4.7% in 2023.[^1] The Maroons field 19 varsity teams in NCAA Division III: 10 men's teams and 9 women's teams. Students run more than 400 recognized organizations.[^1] Wikipedia counts 102 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university. The same revision of the article gives two different figures for [[Pulitzer Prize]] winners: 29 in its lead and 27 in its *Notable people* section. No primary source in the pack resolves the difference.[^1] ## In the at-issue record At-issue item 016 ([[At issue 016 - The one exception to the University of Minnesota]]) sits in Block B, *The Prosecutorial Chair*, at rank 16. It records two facts about the last four Hennepin County Attorneys:[^2] - The single exception to the University of Minnesota Law pattern is Klobuchar, a University of Chicago graduate. - She is the only one of the four who left the office for higher federal office rather than being succeeded within the county. The item pairs this with a White House anchor, the executive order *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity*.[^9] The item rests on one source kind, drawn from en.wikipedia.org. The record does not establish why the exception occurred.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who Three of the last four Hennepin County Attorneys graduated from University of Minnesota Law School: - **[[Tom Johnson]]** graduated from UMN Law in 1970 and was County Attorney from 1979 to 1991.[^4] - **[[Michael Freeman]]** was born in [[Minneapolis]] on May 7, 1948, and earned his UMN Law J.D. in 1974.[^3][^10][^11] - The Legislative Reference Library's member record lists him in the [[Minnesota Senate]] for District 40 from 1982 to 1991. He was majority whip in his second term. - He was County Attorney from Jan. 7, 1991 to Jan. 5, 1999, and again from Jan. 3, 2007 to Jan. 2, 2023. - He lost the 1994 DFL endorsement to [[John Marty]]. In 1998 he won the DFL endorsement but lost the primary to [[Skip Humphrey]]. - **[[Mary Moriarty]]** graduated from UMN Law in 1989 and was Hennepin County Chief Public Defender from 2014 to 2021.[^5] - She has been County Attorney since Jan. 2, 2023, with her term ending Jan. 4, 2027. - On Aug. 7, 2025 she announced that she would not seek a second term. The exception is Klobuchar. She earned a B.A. from Yale in 1982 and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985. She served as County Attorney from Jan. 5, 1999 to Jan. 3, 2007, between Freeman's two tenures.[^2] ### What *Cannon v. University of Chicago*, 441 U.S. 677 (1979), recognized an implied private right of action under [[Title IX]].[^6] The project's catalogue of [[Title VI]] claims cites the same decision for an implied private cause of action for the conduct Title VI prohibits.[^6] *Female Athletes United v. Ellison* is No. 25-2899 in the Eighth Circuit, filed Apr. 15, 2026.[^7] Judge Gruender wrote for the panel, joined by Judges Erickson and Grasz. The panel affirmed the district court's denial of a preliminary injunction to Female Athletes United (FAU). It made the following findings and holdings:[^7] - **Standing.** FAU had standing, because a member identified as "Athlete 1" faced a scheduled game against a transgender athlete. - **Private right of action.** Applying *[[Alexander v. Sandoval]]*, 532 U.S. 275 (2001), through *Cannon*, the panel held that Title IX supplies a private right of action only for intentional sex discrimination.[^7][^6] - **Disparate impact.** FAU's ineffective-accommodation and unequal-treatment claims "sound in disparate impact," for which there is no private right of action. FAU conceded at argument: "we don't contest that there is no disparate impact claim under Title IX." - **Guidance and open questions.** Executive guidance and agency findings "do not reflect settled law." Whether Title IX permits transgender participation "remains an open question of law." The panel noted two pending cases: *West Virginia v. B.P.J.*, No. 24-43, and *[[Little v. Hecox]]*, No. 24-38. The project's master corrects an earlier description of the ruling, which had been drawn from the Minnesota Attorney General's press release. Checked against the opinion, FAU lost on the private right of action, not on standing; the court found standing.[^7] The project's *It Can't Happen Here* dossier cites a University of Chicago Law School work, *"It Can't Happen Here": The Lessons of History*. The work concerns [[Sinclair Lewis]]'s 1935 novel *[[It Can't Happen Here]]*, and the dossier note describes it as using the novel as a framework for institutional and historical denial.[^8][^12] The pack leaves the grades of both URLs unassessed. The record establishes no link between that work and Minnesota matters beyond the citation.[^8] The project's URL catalogue also lists two other items: - Kimberlé Crenshaw's *Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex*, published in the University of Chicago Legal Forum in 1989.[^13] - A University of Chicago Law School news item on Leon Lewis.[^14] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *University of Chicago* (revision 1381703858, retrieved Oct. 27, 2026) — institutional profile: governance, schools, history, campus, finances, enrollment, athletics, laureate counts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Amy Klobuchar* (as cited in Freeman Apex Dossier §III.c and at-issue item AI-016) — Hennepin County Attorney Jan. 5, 1999 – Jan. 3, 2007; Yale B.A. 1982; University of Chicago Law School J.D. 1985. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Klobuchar [^3]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Michael Orville Freeman* member record — birth, University of Minnesota Law School J.D. 1974, Senate District 40 service 1982–1991. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10197 [^4]: University of Minnesota Law School, *Tom Johnson '70, former Hennepin County Attorney, dies at 75* (June 17, 2020) — UMN Law 1970; County Attorney 1979–1991. https://law.umn.edu/news/2020-06-17-tom-johnson-70-former-hennepin-county-attorney-dies-75 [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Mary Moriarty* — University of Minnesota Law School 1989; Chief Public Defender 2014–2021; County Attorney since Jan. 2, 2023; Aug. 7, 2025 announcement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Moriarty [^6]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Cannon v. University of Chicago*, 441 U.S. 677 (1979) — implied private right of action under Title IX; cited in the project's Title VI and Title IX claim:link catalogues (CL-…-17, CL-…-11). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/441/677/ [^7]: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, *Female Athletes United v. Ellison*, No. 25-2899 (filed Apr. 15, 2026), as quoted verbatim in *How Minnesota Got Here* (merged master, validated), footnote [43] — holdings, concession, and correction of the Attorney General press-release characterization. No URL for the opinion is in the pack. [^8]: University of Chicago Law School, *"It Can't Happen Here": The Lessons of History* — cited in the project's It Can't Happen Here dossier, note 1. https://www.law.uchicago.edu/node/64406 [^9]: The White House, *Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity* (Executive Order, 2025) — federal anchor of at-issue item AI-016. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/ [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Michael O. Freeman* — County Attorney terms 1991–1999 and 2007–2023; 1994 and 1998 DFL endorsement contests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O._Freeman [^11]: Minnesota Historical Society, finding aid 00531 — cited with the Legislative Reference Library record for Freeman's biography. https://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00531.xml [^12]: University of Chicago Law School (Chicago Unbound), *"It Can't Happen Here": The Lessons of History* (book chapter 1523) — second URL in the dossier note. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/book_chapters/1523/ [^13]: University of Chicago Legal Forum, Kimberlé Crenshaw, *Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex* (1989) — catalogue row S-8083. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8/ [^14]: University of Chicago Law School, news item on Leon Lewis (class of 1913) — catalogue row S-5478. https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/leon-lewis-1913-fought-nazis-and-american-born-fascists-plan-assassinate-hollywood-film-stars