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Section I

What They Are

THE QUESTION is frequently asked, "What are the land-grant colleges and universities?"

To answer it, the following statement is made.

In the Colonial days higher education in this country was available only in a few institutions, such as Harvard, Yale, and William and Mary. These institutions at different times were subject to varying degrees of public control, but were essentially privately controlled. After the Revolutionary War the States began to organize universities as publicly controlled institutions. They were not essentially different from the privately controlled ones which by that time had grown relatively strong and were setting the pace for the development of collegiate education throughout the country.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the two types of colleges and universities, publicly controlled and privately controlled, developed side by side. Both were greatly influenced naturally by the European universities of which their leading professors were commonly products. But these European universities were organized to serve a society not predominantly democratic. University education was for the leisure classes, the government leaders, and members of the professions.

The American institutions, functioning in somewhat the same fashion, maintained chiefly the classical and professional curricula. They made only slight adaptations to the needs of a pioneer people. A study of such fields as agriculture and the mechanic arts was beneath their academic dignity.

The mild protest against this too exclusively classical type of college and university, grew into a widespread agitation by the middle of the nineteenth century. Agricultural societies in many States were insisting that there must be available colleges where agriculture could be studied. The already established colleges and universities remained largely uninfluenced, however, by this agi

tation. Hence, during the 1850's the Congress debated the issue and finally passed the Morrill Act in 1859. President Buchanan vetoed it essentially on the ground that it was in violation of the traditional policy of the Federal Government which had up to that time left the control of education to the States. In 1862 the Morrill Act was again passed and was signed by President Lincoln. The fundamental purpose of the Morrill Act (see Sec. III for text of the Act) was to insure the development in each State of at least one college adapted to the educational needs of the agricultural and industrial classes. Without too much regard to the academic traditions which largely controlled the colleges and universities of the time, these new institutions to be known as landgrant colleges, were to afford a type of education which would foster the development of agriculture and the mechanic arts. Each State was left to decide whether this new college should be made a part of an already existing institution (commonly the State university) or whether it should be a completely separate institution. By the time all of the present 48 States were admitted into the Union, more than a score of States had developed both a State university and a land-grant college or university on separate campuses, usually under separate boards of control. A number of States which established separate land-grant institutions have in recent decades joined their State universities and their land-grant colleges or universities under single boards in their efforts to coordinate the programs of the two institutions in a given State. A few States, notably New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, utilize as land-grant institutions, universities with varying degrees of private control.

Thus has grown up a system of colleges and universities managed by each State but conforming to certain broad policy stipulations of Federal law. The Federal support contemplated in the initial Morrill Act was to be the income from public lands (30,000 acres for each Representative and Senator in Congress or equivalent in scrip) made available in each State. The State was expected to contribute to the maintenance of its land-grant institution as well as to provide its buildings.

From this modest beginning the Federal Government has expanded its contributions to the land-grant colleges and universities. Recognizing the need for research as a basis for developing agriculture, the Congress passed the Hatch Act in 1887 setting up in the land-grant institutions the system of agricultural experiment stations. In 1890 the second Morrill Act was passed supplementing by direct appropriation the income from the land-grants

for instruction. In 1914 the Smith-Lever Act was passed establishing the system of cooperative extension services to bring to adults the benefits of current developments in the field of agriculture. Thus, over a period of little more than half a century these institutions, designed to foster a program of education suited to the needs of the agricultural and industrial classes, had been established on a foundation of research, and encompassed a program for both the youth on the campus and the adult population throughout the rural areas of the State.

Throughout recent decades numerous acts have been passed expanding the scope and increasing the support of all three aspects of their programs-research, campus instruction, and extension education. Now in addition to the income from the original land-grants the appropriations of Federal funds to aid the States in the maintenance of the land-grant institutions amount to more than $40,000,000 annually. Of this the amounts for the year ending June 30, 1951 were: For campus instruction, $5,030,000; for experiment stations, $12,266,208; and for extension education, $32,174,388.

These funds are distributed to the States on a variety of bases. Some funds go in equal amounts to all States, some to the States on the basis of their farm populations, etc. The funds for campus instruction are distributed and administered by the Federal Security Agency, Office of Education. The funds for experiment stations and extension education are distributed and administered by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

1

In the Morrill Act of 1890 the Congress included a clause requiring that land-grant colleges make no distinction of race or color in its admission requirements. The law permitted a State in satisfaction of the foregoing stipulation to maintain one college for white students and one college for Negro students, and authorized the legislature of such State to propose to the Secretary of the Interior 1 a just and equitable division of the fund between the two colleges. In consequence of this authorization, 17 of the States now maintain separate land-grant colleges for Negroes. Thus, there are now 1 land-grant institution in each of the 48 States and the 3 territories (Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico), a second institution in Massachusetts, and 17 separate colleges for Negroes, a total of 69.

It is not easy to appraise in brief space the services of these land-grant institutions. They have broadened the base of higher

1 The Office of Education was part of the Department of the Interior at that time.

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