Furman University history

In 1850 the state legislature chartered Furman University. It was not until 1851 that South Carolina Baptists were able to raise the necessary funds for the removal of the school to Greenville, South Carolina.

Originally founded as a men’s academy and theological institute, the theological school broke away from Furman in 1858 to become the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In 1889, Furman played in the first formal, intercollegiate football game in South Carolina, and three years later, alumni selected royal purple and white as the university’s colors.

In 1924, Furman was named one of four collegiate beneficiaries of the Duke Endowment.

In 1933, students from the Greenville Women's College began attending classes with Furman students.

In 1938, in response to the firing of a religion professor who challenged doctrinal assumptions, Furman faculty formed a chapter of the American Association for University Professors (AAUP). Two years later, Furman trustees approved the AAUP’s Statement of Principles of Academic Freedom and Tenure.

In 1950, the trustees, hoping to unite the two campuses on a single site, purchased land five miles north of downtown Greenville at the base of the Blue Ridge mountains, where construction on the current campus began three years later.

In 1953, Furman began construction on its new campus, five miles (8 km) north of downtown Greenville.

In 1954, Frank Selvy set an NCAA basketball record when he scored 100 points in a single game.

Classes on the new campus began in 1958.

By 1963, enough faculty were siding with the students over racial desegregation that Furman's board of trustees voted to admit Black students.

After two years of discussion and planning, delayed in part due to the SCBC’s lack of support for desegregation, Furman admitted three African American students into its graduate education program on January 27, 1965.

In 1969, the university first offered a course in African American history and hired its first African American faculty member for the summer session.

In 1992, messengers to the SCBC voted to sever all legal and financial ties to the university, a move that was embraced by most of the university community.

In 2001, Furman became the first college or university in South Carolina to offer same-sex domestic partner medical insurance and other benefits.

Through 2007, Furman has received $110 million from the endowment, which is now one of the nation's largest philanthropic foundations.

In 2012, a new $6.4 million facility was built for continuing education.

In 2013, the student center went through a $7.75 million expansion and renovation.

The university’s first female president, Elizabeth Davis, began her tenure in 2014, and under her guidance there have been many achievements, including the launch of The Furman Advantage.

In 2017, Furman became a regional leader in efforts among colleges and universities to research its slaveholding and racial past.

The university formally acknowledged in 2019 that its campus sits on traditional land of the Cherokee people, and that it seeks to gain inspiration from how the Cherokees learned from and used the land.