Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published July 7, 2004

The birth of a university

"Cows, sows and plows" was the way working class Texans described the Land-Grant Act which created Texas A&M in 1876. One father wrote that his Aggie son attended a school where the poor man's son and the rich man's son stand precisely on the same footing. "Each student is judged by what he is and what he does."

That down-to-earth description came to mind when I read what UT's new president John Petersen thinks of land-grant schools. He said, "I think the public, land-grant, research institutions are really the institutions of the people."

It was Vermonter Justin Smith Morrill who saw the need for more affordable and practical higher education. His formal education had ended at age 15 but through hard work he became a merchant and was so successful he retired before he was 40. In 1854 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1857 Morrill introduced a bill which he explained was "to establish at least one college in every state upon a sure and perpetual foundation, accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil, where all of needful science for practical avocations of life shall be taught ... where agriculture, the foundation of all present and future prosperity, may look for troops of earnest friends."

The House passed Morrill's bill in 1859 but President Buchanan vetoed it. In 1861 the House again passed the bill and this time President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law in 1862. More commonly known as the Land-Grant College Act the bill provided that each state would receive 30,000 acres for each representative and senator. That land was then sold and the monies invested in bonds and perpetual endowment funds for colleges of military, agriculture and mechanical arts in each of the states, without excluding other scientific and classical studies.

In 1867 Morrill moved to the Senate and the Second Morrill Act was passed in 1890.

It established an annual cash subsidy for each college and provided direct compensation to land-grant colleges that could show race and color were not admissions criteria. A few years earlier another important element had been added when the Hatch Act provided appropriations for agriculture experimental stations.

The emphasis on farming and its importance to the nation was recognized and in 1914 agriculture and home economics extension work to be carried on by land-colleges in cooperation with the U.S. Department of agriculture largely through county agriculture, home demonstration and boys and girls club agents was a worthy addition.

Another lesser known bonus of land-grant colleges was training veterinarians. In the 1960s of the 17 schools of veterinary medicine only two were not land-grant.

Justin Smith Morrill served in the Senate until his death in 1898. Because of his concern that everyone should have the opportunity for a higher education, the United States today has 105 land-grant colleges and universities. UT's president Petersen understands and respects their importance. He said, "The institution that carries the state's name and takes the taxpayers' dollars and turns those dollars into quality education, research and outreach is a special kind of institution as far as I'm concerned."

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.