University of Delaware

The University of Delaware traces its origins to 1743, when Presbyterian minister Francis Alison opened a "Free School" in his home in New London, Pennsylvania.[14][15] During its early years, the school was run under the auspices of the Philadelphia Synod of the Presbyterian Church. The school changed its name and location several times. It moved to Newark by 1765 and received a charter from the colonial Penn government as the Academy of Newark in 1769. In 1781, the academy trustees petitioned the Delaware General Assembly to grant the academy the powers of a college, but no action was taken on this request.[16]

In 1818, the Delaware legislature authorized the trustees of the Newark Academy to operate a lottery in order to raise funds with which to establish a college.[17] Commencement of the lottery, however, was delayed until 1825, in large part because some trustees, several of whom were Presbyterian ministers, objected to involvement with a lottery on moral grounds.

In 1832, the academy trustees selected the site for the college and entered into a contract for the erection of the college building. Construction of that building (now called Old College) began in late 1832 or in 1833. In January 1833 the academy trustees petitioned the Delaware legislature to incorporate the college and on February 5, 1833, the legislature incorporated Newark College, which was charged with instruction in languages, arts and sciences, and granted the power to confer degrees. All of the academy trustees became trustees of the college, and the college absorbed the academy, with Newark Academy becoming the preparatory department of Newark College.

Newark College commenced operations on May 8, 1834, with a collegiate department and an academic department, both of which were housed in Old College. In January 1835, the Delaware legislature passed legislation specifically authorizing the Newark Academy trustees to suspend operations and to allow the educational responsibilities of the academy to be performed by the academic department of Newark College. If, however, the college ever ceased to have an academic department, the trustees of the academy were required to revive the academy.[18]

In 1841 and 1842 separate classroom and dormitory buildings were constructed to teach and house academic department students. These buildings would later form the east and west wings of the Newark Academy Building located at Main and Academy Streets.

In 1843, the name of the college was changed to Delaware College.

The college was supported by a state authorized lottery until 1845. By the late 1840s, with the loss of lottery proceeds, the college faced serious financial problems. A scholarship program was adopted to increase enrollment and revenues. Although enrollment did increase to levels that would not be surpassed until the 1900s (there were 118 college students in 1854), the plan was fiscally unsound, and the financial condition of the school deteriorated further.[14] After a student fracas in 1858 resulted in the death of a student, the college suspended operations in 1859, although the academy continued to operate.

The Civil War delayed the reopening of the college. In 1867, college trustees lobbied the Delaware legislature for Delaware College to be designated as Delaware's land-grant college pursuant to the Morrill Land-Grant College Act.[19] Introduced by Congressman Justin S. Morrill of Vermont in 1857 and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the Morrill Land-Grant College Act granted public lands to each state in order to establish schools to teach agriculture and engineering. On Jan. 12, 1869, the Board of Trustees of Delaware College signed an agreement to become the state's land-grant institution. In exchange, the state received a one-half interest in the property of the college and the authority to appoint half of the members of the board of trustees. The Morrill Land-Grant College Act granted Delaware the title to 90,000 acres in Montana which it sold and invested the profits into bonds used to fund the college.

Delaware College's new status as a semipublic college led to the termination of its official connection with the private academy. In 1869, the Newark Academy was revived as a separate institution operating under the 1769 charter.

In 1870, Delaware College reopened. It offered classical, scientific and, as required by its land-grant status, agricultural courses of study. In an effort to boost enrollment, women were admitted to the college between 1872 and 1885.

In 1887, Congress passed the Hatch Act, which provided Delaware College with funding with which to establish an agricultural experiment station. In 1890, the college purchased nine acres of land for an experimental farm located next to its campus. In 1890 the college became the recipient of more federal aid when the New Morrill Act was passed. It provided for annual payments to support land-grant colleges. Under the law, the State of Delaware initially received $15,000 per year, which was to be increased by $1,000 per year until it reached $25,000. Delaware College received 80% of this money. (It did not receive all of it because the law provided that in states in which land-grant colleges did not admit black students, an equitable amount of the granted money had to be used to educate the excluded students. Delaware College had never admitted black students (although it had admitted Native American and Asian students), and as a result the state of Delaware established Delaware State College near Dover for black students, which opened in 1892.) In 1891 and 1893 Delaware College received appropriations from the State of Delaware for the construction of new buildings. One new building built with this money was Recitation Hall.

As a result of this additional funding, Delaware College was invigorated. New buildings, improved facilities, and additional professors helped the college attract more students. Student life also became more active during this period. In 1889 the first football game involving a team representing the college was played. Also in 1889, the college adopted blue and gold as the school's colors.

It was not until 1914, though, that the Women's College opened on an adjoining campus, offering women degrees in Home Economics, Education, and Arts and Sciences. Brick archways at Memorial Hall separated the Men's and Women's campuses and gave rise to the legend of the Kissing Arches (where students would kiss good night before returning to their respective residence halls).

In 1921, Delaware College was renamed the University of Delaware, and it officially became a coeducational institution in 1945 when it merged with the Women's College of Delaware.[20]

The university grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century. After World War II, UD enrollment skyrocketed, thanks to the G.I. Bill. In the late 1940s, almost two-thirds of the students were veterans. Since the 1950s, UD has quadrupled its enrollment and greatly expanded its faculty, its academic programs and its research enterprise.

In 2010–11, the university conducted a feasibility study in support of plans to add a law school focused on corporate and patent law.[21] At its completion, the study suggested that the planned addition was not within the university's funding capability given the nation's economic climate at the time.[21] Capital expenses were projected at $100 million, and the operating deficit in the first ten years would be $165 million. The study assumed an initial class of two hundred students entering in the fall of 2015.[21] Widener University has Delaware's only law school.[21]

On October 23, 2009, the University of Delaware signed an agreement with Chrysler to purchase a shuttered vehicle assembly plant adjacent to the university for $24.25 million as part of Chrysler's bankruptcy restructuring plan.[22] The university has developed the 272-acre (1.10 km²) site into the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. The site is the new home of UD's College of Health Sciences, which includes teaching and research laboratories and several public health clinics. The STAR Campus also includes research facilities for UD's vehicle-to-grid technology, as well as Delaware Technology Park, SevOne, CareNow, Independent Prosthetics and Orthotics, and the East Coast headquarters of Bloom Energy.[23] In 2020, UD opened the Ammon Pinozzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center, which became the new home of the UD-led National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals. Also, Chemours recently opened its global research and development facility, known as the Discovery Hub, on the STAR Campus in 2020. The new Newark Regional Transportation Center on the STAR Campus will serve passengers of Amtrak and regional rail.

U.S. News & World Report ranked UD's undergraduate program tied for 97th among "national universities" and tied for 39th among public universities in 2021.[34]

Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked UD 148th nationally and between 300 and 350 internationally in 2020.[35]

Memorial Hall, Home of UD's English Department

The Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs across seven departments: accounting and MIS, business administration, economics, finance, hospitality business management, sport management, and enterprise.

As the second largest of UD's eight colleges, Lerner includes 3,368 undergraduate students, 872 graduate students, 209 faculty and staff (2019 statistics),[36] and more than 34,000 alumni across the globe. Lerner is the only Delaware business school with a dual AACSB-accreditation in business (1966) and accounting (1984).

Lerner maintains its own Career Services center and undergraduate advising department and houses two research centers, the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) and the Institute for Financial Services Analytics (IFSA). Its experiential learning facilities include the Geltzeiler Trading Center, Vita Nova restaurant, and the Courtyard Newark at the University of Delaware, owned by UD and managed by Shaner Hotels.

The college became the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics in 2002. It was named after MBNA chairman and CEO Alfred Lerner, who was one of America's successful business leaders and philanthropists, especially in his support of educational causes.

In Fall 2014, University of Delaware created a Ph.D. in Financial Services Analytics (FSAN). The Ph.D. in FSAN is a cross-disciplinary program offered by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware, and was funded in part by a grant from JPMorgan Chase. The program is the first of its kind.

The School of Business and Economics was created in 1963, and was formally founded as of the College of Business and Economics in 1965.

The first MBA program at UD began in 1952. In 1917 the University of Delaware established the first undergraduate business major in business administration.

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs across four departments: animal and food sciences, entomology and wildlife ecology, plant and soil sciences, and applied economics and statistics. As of fall 2019, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources had 81 faculty, 892 undergraduate students and 212 graduate students.[36]

One of the few colleges in the country with a working farm on campus, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources includes a 350-acre outdoor classroom in Newark that includes a working dairy farm, equine barns, statistics and experimental economics labs, botanic gardens, greenhouses, ecology woods, an apiary, farmland, forests, grasslands, wetlands, and a working creamery.[37]

In Georgetown, Del., the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is home to the Carvel Research and Education Center, which includes more than 300 acres of farmland for agronomy research and varietal trials. The Lasher Laboratory, also on the Georgetown campus, is the primary poultry diagnostic laboratory in the state of Delaware, providing diagnostic services to commercial poultry producers and owners of small non-commercial flocks.

University of Delaware's Cooperative Extension, the outreach arm of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources established by the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, completes the tripartite mission of land-grant institutions to offer teaching, research and service. Cooperative Extension takes the innovative work developed at the college and shares it with the public, putting knowledge into practice in pursuit of economic vitality, ecological sustainability and social wellbeing.

Through the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware students can choose from an array of concentrations. They can choose from programs in visual and performing arts, social sciences, natural sciences and many more.[38] The College of Arts and Sciences has 23 academic departments. It is the largest of UD's colleges, with 6358 undergraduate students, 1132 graduate students and more than 600 faculty members, as of fall 2019.[36]

The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences is John A. Pelesko, who has been a UD faculty member in the Department of Mathematical Sciences since 2002. Pelesko previously served as associate dean for the natural sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2016 to 2018.

The College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE) is made up of the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, the Department of Earth Sciences, and the School of Marine Science and Policy. There are four programs in the School of Marine Science and Policy: Marine Biosciences, Oceanography, Physical Ocean Science and Engineering, and Marine Policy. The college offers over nine undergraduate majors, 17 graduate degrees and two professional certificates. Fall 2019 enrollment included 397 undergraduate students and 183 graduate students.[36]

Undergraduate science majors at UD have the opportunity to apply for the CEOE's Semester-in-Residence Program, in which students live and work at the Lewes campus which is located on the Delaware Bay. The Lewes campus has many advanced marine research facilities, including the Global Visualization Lab and the Robotic Discovery Laboratories, both of which focus on the use of autonomous research vehicles for collecting data underwater, from the surface and in the air. Lewes is also home to UD's marine operations, which feature the R/V Joanne Daiber for research in the Delaware Bay and the R/V Hugh R. Sharp, a 146-foot, state-of-the-art coastal research vessel that operates as a member of the university-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). Students work on a research project guided by a faculty member in addition to taking "introductory graduate-level classes." Additionally, any student in the United States who is enrolled in a bachelor's degree program may apply for the college's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

In 2019, CEOE opened the Offshore Wind Skills Academy, the first US skills training program for offshore wind energy professionals.

The college also offers many undergraduate study abroad opportunities to places such as New Zealand, Mexico, Bonaire, Fiji, Barbados, Austria, and London. A geology fieldwork course held in various locations throughout the American West is also available and required for geological sciences majors.

Dupont Hall on the Central Green, College of Engineering

Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory

The U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Delaware's engineering graduate program as #47[39] for 2022 and the undergraduate program as #53 for 2021.[40] U.S. News & World Report ranked the undergraduate chemical engineering program #7 in the country for 2021[41] and the graduate chemical engineering programs as #8[42] in the country for 2022.

The College of Engineering is home to seven academic departments offering bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree programs. Areas of research focus include advanced manufacturing and materials, coastal and environmental engineering, translational biomechanics, engineered therapeutics and scholarship of engineering education. Undergraduate degrees are offered in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, computer science, construction engineering and management, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, information systems, materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering. As of fall 2019, the College of Engineering had 177 full-time faculty, 2,492 undergraduate students and 927 graduate students.[36]

The faculty includes 33 named professors, seven career development named professors, eight National Academy of Engineers members, 44 NSF career award winners and 17 University teaching award recipients. Initiatives led by college faculty include 15 college-based research centers and 14 university-based research institutes.

The College of Engineering has a presence in approximately 20 different buildings on and off campus. This includes modern classrooms and research laboratories such as the Advanced Materials Characterization Lab and Nanofabrication Facility located in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory.

The College of Health Sciences (CHS) is home to seven academic departments, including newly created Epidemiology. The College of Health Sciences offers bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree programs that take evidence-based research and translate it into person-centered care. Undergraduate degrees are offered in applied molecular biology and biotechnology, exercise science, health behavioral science, medical diagnostics, medical laboratory science, nursing, nutrition, nutrition and dietetics, nutrition and medical sciences, and sports health. Pre-physician's assistant and occupational therapy tracks are also available. As of fall 2019, the College of Health Sciences included 148 faculty, 2,715 undergraduate students and 504 graduate students.[36] The college includes the state of Delaware's only education program for speech pathologists, a state-of-the-art Health Design Innovation space to bring research to life and change the quality-of-life for the surrounding community.

U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Delaware's physical therapy program as #1 in 2016. The College of Health Sciences was ranked #2 in National Institute of Health funding among Schools of Allied Health Professions in 2018.

The college is headquartered at the university's Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. Located on the site of a former Chrysler automotive assembly plant, College of Health Sciences buildings include the Health Sciences Complex (opened in December 2013) and the Tower at STAR (opened in August 2018). The Health Sciences Complex includes Translation Hallway; where research labs translate into clinical care across the hallway. The Tower at STAR includes a Demonstration Kitchen, Living Wall, Exercise Intervention Space for chronic disease, Health Design Innovation lab, Interprofessional Simulation space and a Simulation Apartment where prevention and wellness are the focus for the future of health care delivery. Plans for the STAR Campus include expanding university-based research and shared research in collaboration with the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) and the chemical company Chemours.

The college is also home to UD Health which includes three public clinics focusing on physical therapy, nurse managed primary care, and speech-language-hearing. Additional services include health coaching, nutrition counseling, and exercise testing/counseling. Recruitment is ongoing for many research studies as well.

On July 1, 2019, the University of Delaware transitioned the former Office of Graduate and Professional Education to the institution's eighth college.

The first doctoral programs at UD — in chemical engineering and chemistry — were approved in 1946. The university awarded its first doctorate — in chemical engineering — in 1948. Currently, more than 3,600 graduate students are enrolled at UD. The university offers more than 200 graduate and professional degree programs — many ranked by the National Research Council at the top of their fields.[43]

While the majority of graduate degrees are housed within the other seven colleges, the Graduate College serves as a coordinating body, providing administrative oversight for graduate student recruitment, student-life services, professional development programming, interdisciplinary programs, and marketing and market research.

The Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) at the University of Delaware is the oldest solar energy research institute in the world. It was established by Karl Boer in 1972 to pioneer research on thin film solar cells and today is one of the only laboratories in the world with expertise in Si, CdTe, and CuInSe2 based solar cells. This included the development of one of the first solar powered homes, a structure still utilized by the university's student-run ambulance service, the University of Delaware Emergency Care Unit.[44] Recently the IEC was the number one recipient of the DOE Sunshot Initiative and was awarded 5 grants totaling $9.1 million to research next generation solar cells to reduce the cost of solar cells by 75% by the end of the decade.[45]

The Disaster Research Center, or DRC, was the first social science research center in the world devoted to the study of disasters. It was established at Ohio State University in 1963 and moved to the University of Delaware in 1985. The center conducts field and survey research on group, organizational and community preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters and other community-wide crises. DRC researchers have carried out systematic studies on a broad range of disaster types, including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous chemical incidents, and plane crashes. DRC has also done research on civil disturbances and riots, including the 1992 Los Angeles unrest. Staff have conducted nearly 700 field studies since the center's inception, traveling to communities throughout the United States and internationally, including Mexico, Canada, Japan, Italy, and Turkey. Core faculty members are from the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the School of Public Policy and Administration. The staff also includes postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduates and research support personnel.

The Delaware Biotechnology Institute, or DBI, was organized as an academic unit of the University of Delaware in 1999 and moved into dedicated research facilities in 2001. DBI supports a statewide partnership of higher education, industry, medical, and government communities committed to the discovery and application of interdisciplinary knowledge in biotechnology and the life sciences. With some 180 people resident in the DBI facilities, including 20–25 faculty members representing 12 departments, 140 graduate and post-graduate students, and 20 professional staff members, DBI emphasizes a multi-disciplinary approach to life-science research. The core research areas pursued by DBI-affiliated faculty include agriculture, human health, marine environmental genomics, biomaterials, and computational biology/bioinformatics. Research in these and other areas is done in collaboration with faculty at Delaware State University, Delaware Technical and Community College, Wesley College, Christiana Hospital, and Nemours Hospital for Children. One of the primary objectives of the institute is to provide state-of-the-art research equipment to facilitate life science research and six core instrumentation centers and specialized facilities, each under the direction of an experienced researcher or administrator, is supported at DBI and made available to university researchers.

The Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) launched on October 23, 2009. DENIN is charged with conducting research and promoting and coordinating knowledge partnerships that integrate environmental science, engineering and policy.[46]

The University of Delaware Energy Institute (UDEI) was inaugurated September 19, 2008. UDEI has been selected to receive a $3 million a year grant for advanced solar research.[47]

The John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance was established in 2000 at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Its aim is to propose changes in corporate structure and management through education and interaction. The Center provides a forum for those interested in corporate governance issues.[48]

In February 2017, the School of Public Policy and Administration announced the creation of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Institute (Biden Institute), named after alumnus Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States, who at the time had recently finished his term as the 47th vice president.[49]

In November 2007, it was announced that the University of Delaware and Delaware State University would have their first game against each other, the game being in the first round of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The game was played on November 23, with University of Delaware winning 44–7.[66] Delaware has won all of the regular season match-ups, which have been called the Route 1 Rivalry. In all, the two schools played eight games between 2007 and 2017. Games are scheduled for 2019 and 2020. In 2019, UD and DSU announced that they have scheduled six games against each other from 2024 through 2030, including the first two games at DSU's Alumni Stadium.[67]

For the 2022-23 academic year, undergraduate tuition per semester is $14,822 for Delaware residents and $36,082 for non-residents. Total cost of attendance for the 2022-23 academic year (tuition, mandatory fees, room and board) is $32,444 for Delawareans and $54,964 for non-residents.[71]

Trabant University Center

There are currently two student publications at Delaware: The Review and UDress, as well as radio and television stations.

The Review is a weekly student publication, released in print and online on Tuesdays. It is an independent publication and receives no financial support from the university. It is distributed at several locations across campus, including Morris Library, the Perkins Student Center and the Trabant University Center, as well as various academic buildings and the dining halls. The Review's office is located at 250 Perkins Student Center, facing Academy Street, and is above the offices of WVUD. In 2004, it was a National Newspaper Pacemaker Award Finalist, and was also named one of the ten best non-daily college newspapers by the Associated Collegiate Press.[72] It currently has a print circulation of 10,000.

UDress magazine is the on-campus fashion magazine which publishes one issue per semester, in conjunction with fashion events.

The student-run, non-commercial, educational radio station at Delaware broadcasts on 91.3 and uses the call letters WVUD, which the university purchased from the University of Dayton in the 1980s. Although not its intended call letter pronunciation, 'VUD has taken on the slogan "the Voice of the University of Delaware." They are licensed to the city of Newark, Delaware and broadcasts with a power of 1,000 watts 24 hours a day with its offices and studios located in the Perkins Student Center.[73]

The transmitting facilities are located atop the Christiana East Tower residence hall. WVUD is operated by University of Delaware students, a university staff of two, and community members. No prior radio experience is necessary, nor is there a need to enroll in any certain major to become a part of WVUD. The radio station has a variety of programming, featuring both music and talk formats.

STN is the student-run, non-commercial, educational television station at the University of Delaware. The station broadcasts second-run movies, original student produced content as well as live sports coverage. The initials, STN, originally stood for Shane Thomas Network, later changed to Student Television Network.[74]

Approximately 26% of the University of Delaware's undergraduate student population is affiliated with a fraternity or sorority.[75] There are over 26 fraternities and 20 sororities (chapters & colonies) in the Interfraternity Council (IFC), National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), Multicultural Greek Congress (MGC) and Special Interest Greek Council. They all coordinate via the Greek Council. All Greek organizations participate in an accreditation process.[76] The Accreditation is "a framework for meeting [chapters'] stated missions and creating a positive development experience for all members".[76] Former assessment programs included the Five Star program of the late 1990s, and the CAP (Chapter Assessment Program) used 2014-2021.

Active fraternities include Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Pi Kappa Phi, Theta Chi, Sigma Chi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Delta Chi, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Kappa Psi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Pi Kappa Alpha, Kappa Delta Rho, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Zeta Beta Tau, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Pi, Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Phi Delta, Phi Kappa Tau, Alpha Gamma Rho, Delta Upsilon, Tau Epsilon Phi, Alpha Kappa Psi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Phi, Kappa Alpha Psi, Lambda Sigma Upsilon, and Phi Beta Sigma.

Active sororities include Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Zeta Phi Beta, Lambda Theta Alpha, Chi Upsilon Sigma, Lambda Pi Chi, Delta Phi Lambda, Phi Sigma Sigma, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Chi Omega, Sigma Kappa, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Delta Delta, and Kappa Alpha Theta.

University of Delaware shuttle bus

The University of Delaware operates multiple shuttle routes called "UD Shuttle" that serve the campus. The North/South Academy route runs the north–south length of the campus via Academy Street and offers daily service, with late night service Friday and Saturday. The North/South College route runs the north–south length of the campus via College Avenue and offers service on weekdays. The East Loop route runs a loop through the eastern part of the campus and Newark and offers daily service, with late night service Friday and Saturday. The West Loop route runs a loop through the western part of the campus and Newark and offers daily service, with late night service Friday and Saturday. The Early Bird route offers early morning weekday service serving the north–south length of the campus while the Late Bird route offers late night service daily serving the north–south length of the campus.[77]

A campus website claims that a 1993 study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that high-risk drinking at UD exceeded the national norm. On this survey, a majority of students reported binge drinking more than once in a two-week interval. The average consumption for students was nine drinks per week, while 29% reported that they drink on 10 or more occasions per month. UD students were found to be more aware of policies, prevention programs, and enforcement risks than the national average.[80]

In 2005, on the Newark campus of the university 1140 students were picked up by the campus police for alcohol-related violations. Of these, 120 led to arrests. These figures are up from previous years, 1062 in 2004 and 1026 in 2003.[81] This represents approximately 6% of the student population.[82] At least one student organization has undertaken the goal of "providing fun activities for those who chose not to drink" and to "promote the idea that one doesn't need alcohol to have a good time."[83]

In 2008, a University of Delaware freshman died of alcohol poisoning after attending a party hosted by members of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, where the student was pledging.[84] Although the university has attempted to make efforts in preventing unhealthy alcohol use, a student visiting from another college died on March 19, 2016, in an alcohol-related incident.[85] The student was standing alone on the roof of an off-campus fraternity, and slipped off it. In 2018 the university and other organizations were sued by the family of a sophomore student who attended an off-campus sorority party in Glasgow and was struck and killed by a vehicle while jaywalking with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit. The university and the other organizations were found not liable for the students death and the case was dismissed.[86]

The university closed the dining halls for in-person eating after seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in February 2021 in an attempt to lower numbers which jumped from 72 cases to 87 in one day. Students claimed that other students were to blame for disregarding rules and going out and grouping together unmasked.[87] Similar disregard was seen in October 2020 when 19 student athletes were suspended from all athletics-related activities after they attended a large off-campus party.[88] In August 2021 the school issued a universal mask mandate for all those on campus while inside, except for when a student is present in their own residence hall or floor community and while eating and drinking in a dining hall. The university previously announced in May 2021 that the COVID-19 vaccine was required for all students by August 2021, with UD employees able to opt to be tested weekly.[89] In August 2022 the school issued a mask mandate in all classrooms, research laboratories, and all UD transportation for the first two weeks of the semester. [90]

In October 2021, a sophomore male student was accused of assaulting a female student in an off-campus apartment, allegedly having held her captive there for about four hours after choking her unconscious and threatening to kill her.[93] Although he was later arrested on assault, kidnapping and other charges and suspended from the university and barred from its campus[94] Many students protested the perceived inaction from the university which took five days to issue a statement about the incident.[95][96] The university's lack of a timely response was also highlighted by a student in 2019 who protested after the Title IX process was extended to 100 days instead of the mandated 60 days.[97]

In the fall of 2007, the university implemented a new residence-life education program that was criticized for forcing students into polarizing discussions. The program was abandoned in November of the same year.[98]

The university agreed to lease 43 acres on the STAR campus to The Data Centers (TDC) for the construction of the data center. The data center plan included a combined heat cycle natural gas-fired power plant capable of generating 248 megawatts of power.[99] TDC claimed that the power plant was critical to ensuring an uninterrupted electrical power supply to the facility, which is critical for data integrity. The TDC business plan also called for sale of excess electricity. Portions of the Newark community questioned the business plan, claiming that the power plant is not an auxiliary part of the data center but a separate industrial use, which would violate the zoning of the STAR campus.[100]

On April 28, 2014, the City of Newark Board of Adjustment upheld its April 19, 2014 ruling that the power plant is an accessory to the data center and that no rezoning was required.[101] The ruling is presently under appeal. The University of Delaware's Sustainability Task Force sent an open letter to President Harker citing concerns that the project violates the university's strategic plan and Climate Action Plan.[102] On May 4, 2014, the University Faculty Senate voted 43 to 0 (with 8 abstentions) to recommend to the administration that it not allow construction of The Data Center on UD's STAR campus if The Data Center includes any fossil-fuel-burning power plant.[103][104] On July 10, 2014, the university announced that it was terminating the lease for the project.[105]