Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman,[A 2] the liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina.

[2] Furman Academy and Theological Institution was established by the South Carolina Baptist Convention and incorporated in December 1825 in Edgefield.

[A 3] In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education found the "separate but equal" policy to be unconstitutional, starting the lengthy process of desegregating public schools.

Action on the trustees' decision was postponed and it was later overturned by South Carolina's Baptist Convention; desegregated admission was not implemented at Furman until its incoming president, Gordon W. Blackwell, a past president of Florida State University, made it a condition of his acceptance of the new position.

[A 5] Furman's "heritage is rooted in the non-creedal, free church Baptist tradition which has always valued particular religious commitments while insisting not only on the freedom of the individual to believe as he or she sees fit but also on respect for a diversity of religious perspectives, including the perspective of the non-religious person.

[4] Furman University's campus is located at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the upstate region of South Carolina.

[D 7] The campus also includes an Asian garden, the centerpiece of which is the Place of Peace, a Buddhist temple moved to the site from Japan.

A replica of the cabin that Henry David Thoreau inhabited while writing On Walden Pond is located on the west side of the lake.

[A 9] Furman works to conserve, reduce, and recycle on campus, has constructed green buildings and provided students with alternative transportation.

A wide variety of produce is grown throughout the year using sustainable agricultural practices such as crop rotations, composting, drip lines, natural fertilizers, and integrated pest management.

2015, the Sierra Club included Furman in its list of the top 50 eco-friendly universities in America.

[15] Leadership and guidance to the university is provided by a board of trustees, whose 36 members meet at least three times per academic year and are elected for three-year terms.

[A 12] As of 2023[update], current board members include David Trone, U.S. representative for Maryland's 6th congressional district, and William Byrd Traxler Jr., Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals.

The general education requirements include mind and body wellness, textual analysis, two natural sciences, math/formal reasoning, two empirical studies of human behavior, history, ultimate question, foreign language, and world culture.

[26][27] Furman ranked 23rd among all liberal arts colleges in number of graduates who went on to receive PhDs from 1990 to 1995.

In 2018, Furman was placed 73rd out of 291 colleges in the NACDA Directors' Cup Division I Final Standings, highest among Southern Conference members.

[30] In the 2019–2020 season, Furman finished in 32nd place out of 157 institutions in the NACDA Director's Cup Final Fall Standings.