Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Indian Reservation in Western Oregon.

[48] Prominent UO researchers of this era include Michael Posner, Frank Stahl, George Streisinger and Aaron Novick.

In recent years UO's administration and Board of Trustees have approved hundreds of millions of dollars in construction projects.

These facilities include Matthew Knight Arena, the Ford Alumni Center, the EMU renovation (student union building), and dormitories.

[65][66] Despite the recent influx in private gifts given by mega-donors, as of 2020, UO's state subsidy per resident student is one of the lowest in both the Association of American Universities and Pac-12 Conference.

[30] Phil Knight has financed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of construction projects on UO's campus going back to the late-1980s.

[75]On March 31, 2012, a Political Action Committee called Oregonians For Higher Education Excellence was formed by Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle.

Based on Ellis F. Lawrence's vision, many of the university's buildings are planned around several major quadrangles, many of which abut the 13th Avenue pedestrian mall.

Although academic buildings are spread throughout the campus, most are along East 13th Avenue, with heavy pedestrian traffic at the intersection with Kincaid Street.

Sports facilities are grouped in the southern-central part of campus with the Autzen Stadium and PK Park complexes across the Willamette River.

The UO Constitution provides a collaborative process that ensures a strong voice for the faculty, acting through the University Senate.

The representation of students, civil servants, and administrative employees in the senate ensures this predominantly faculty body operates in the best interests of the entire university community.

[117] Former provost Scott Coltrane served as interim president, from August 6, 2014, through June 30, 2015, following the resignation of Michael Gottfredson.

[118] This resignation occurred with less than 24 hours notice amidst a number of controversies, including allegations of mishandling of sexual violence,[119] a decline of $100 million in university donations,[120] and the alienation of faculty members around unionization and academic freedom.

[128] The University of Oregon appeared in the documentary The Hunting Ground after allowing three basketball players accused of sexual assault to play in an NCAA Tournament.

[140] The Charles H. Lundquist College of Business was founded in 1884 and offers courses in fields such as accounting, decision sciences, entrepreneurship, finance, management, and marketing.

[149] Among freshman students who enrolled in fall 2019, SAT scores for the middle 50% ranged from 560 to 660 for evidence based reading and writing, and 540–650 for math.

The main branch, the Knight Library, houses humanities and social sciences, Learning Commons, Music Services, Government Publications, Maps and Aerial Photos, Special Collections & University Archives, Media Services, the Center for Educational Technologies, and a Cinema Studies lab to be available in Winter 2010.

[163] Other branch locations are: The UO Libraries hosts Scholars' Bank, an open access (OA) digital repository created to capture, distribute and preserve the intellectual output of the University of Oregon.

Founded in 1970 by German conductor Helmuth Rilling and UO professor (and past president of the American Choral Directors Association) Royce Saltzman, the festival has grown into an international program that draws hundreds of musicians and over 40,000 attendees annually.

The festival has presented such artists as Frederica von Stade, Bobby McFerrin, Garrison Keillor, and Thomas Quasthoff, who made his American debut in Eugene in 1995.

The festival actively commissions and premieres new choral-orchestra works, including pieces by Arvo Pärt, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tan Dun.

Its purpose is to provide for the social, cultural, educational and physical development of its members, and for the advancement of their individual and collective interests both within and without the university.

Opened in the fall of 2016, the new facility includes improved dining options, faculty and group offices, and meeting spaces.

The programs have produced many world-class athletes including Steve Prefontaine and Alberto Salazar, the latter of whom was also a coach until he was banned for life.

In 2007, the athletic director Patrick Kilkenny announced plans to reinstate baseball and to drop wrestling while adding women's acrobatics & tumbling.

The fight song is "Mighty Oregon", written by professor Albert Perfect and student John DeWitt Gilbert in 1916.

[205] Prominent alumni include: academic leaders Lee Bollinger (president of Columbia University and former president of the University of Michigan), Gene Block (chancellor of UCLA), and Asher Cohen (president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), TV host Ann Curry, author and counter-culture figure Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), businessman Phil Knight (founded Nike, Inc. in Eugene), NFL quarterbacks Marcus Mariota (2014 Heisman Trophy winner) and Justin Herbert (2019 William V. Campbell Trophy recipient and 2020 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year), screenwriter Stephen J. Cannell, author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), cognitive scientist and author Douglas Hofstadter (Gödel, Escher, Bach), biochemist Pamela Bjorkman, U.S.

Senator Ron Wyden, American sportscaster and former professional football player Ahmad Rashad, professional basketball players Luke Ridnour, Luke Jackson and Sabrina Ionescu, former American football quarterback and current sportscaster Dan Fouts, actress Kaitlin Olson, Circuit Court Judge Hollie Pihl, A cappella vocalist and YouTuber Peter Hollens, trumpeter and musician Tony Glausi, Hilda Heine (president of the Marshall Islands), and Coach Mark Few (coach of Men's Basketball Gonzaga Bulldogs.)

[207] Notable current and former faculty and staff includes: renowned Canadian architect Arthur Erikson, biochemist and biophysicist Brian Matthews (also known for Matthews correlation coefficient), neuroscientist Michael Posner, behavioral psychologist and risk researcher Paul Slovic, molecular biologist and geneticist Franklin Stahl (noted for Meselson–Stahl experiment) which he performed at Caltech, molecular biologist George Streisinger (pioneered the use of Zebrafish in biological research), and 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Knight Research Professor David Wineland, formerly of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder.