balance by 1954. A fundraising campaign was launched the same year, which allowed for modest recovery, but the financial situation worsened after a decline in undergraduate enrollments. In 1957, to attract more students, Kimpton reduced the general education curriculum from four years to two years. Furthermore, the graduate divisional faculty with slowly merged with the previously independent college faculty via joint appointments. To address safety concerns driven by increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood, the university became a major sponsor of a controversial urban renewal project for Hyde Park. Between 1954 and 1960, the university worked with the South East Chicago Commission and Mayor Richard J. Daley to clear approximately 925 acres of land, disproportionately affecting Black, low-income residents.
In 1961, Caltech professor George Beadle was elected chancellor, resuming the title of president later that year. Beadle's tenure saw large investments in faculty and campus expansion to …
