COLUMN: USU is the Utah’s people’s college
This week, as you see tractors on campus, a mechanical bull on the Quad or attend the Brenn Hill concert for extra credit, you will wonder why it all here. It is all part of Ag Week – a week-long celebration of agriculture and the history of Utah State University. Agriculture is an important part of USU because it is a land grant college. Needless to say whether you are six-year senior anticipating graduation in the spring or a freshman who wears your high school letterman jacket, you have heard USU referred to as a land grant college.
In 1862, the United State’s Congress passed The Morrill Land Grant College Act. Its purpose is to go beyond the status quo and give the people what they desired, a more practical curriculum. With this federal legislation, the focus of practical skills mandated the instruction of agriculture, mechanical arts (engineering) and applied sciences. In addition, it is required the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) be on any land grant college. To encourage states to take advantage of this new bill, every state was allocated 30,000 acres for each senator and representative. That allowed the states to sell the land and raise funds for the building of these new institutions. This was the beginning of USU.
The next step came in 1888 with founding of the Agricultural College of Utah and the Experiment Station. Since those early years there have been several name changes. In 1916, the name changed to Utah Agricultural College and then to Utah State Agricultural College. Then, finally, in 1957 the Legislature changed the name to its current legal name of Utah State University of Agricultural and Applied Science. For convenience it is often shortened to Utah State University. However, it is important to remember that with its current legal name it retains the historical purpose and mission of being a practical institution with its instruction of agricultural and applied sciences. The ideology of learning by doing has always been an important to Utah State University. That is why we are so research intensive.
As Utah’s “people’s college,” this is the place where anyone in the state can come and better themselves. Whether it is obtaining a bachelor’s degree in food science, an associate’s degree in agricultural systems technology or obtain a one-year Dairy Herdsmen certificate. With this philosophy of a “people’s college,” my grandpa and his three brothers were able to come off the farm and obtained degrees from USU – creating a legacy for my family that has enabled me to come and obtain my education. Thus, as we hear talk of a 43 percent tuition increase and increased admission requirements, we cannot just sit on our hands and do nothing. The problem is not completely within the university – it extends to the diminishing lack of support from the state. We need to speak to our state Legislature, write them letters and express our concerns. They need to be reminded that this is the “people’s college.”
I pose a question to you that was posed to me last week. Has there ever been a public official who was not re-elected by cutting post-secondary money?
Remember who we are, a land grant “people’s college.” Remember to go out and vote. When you hear people say that the state cannot pay for higher education, remind them that the state will never pay more then when they fail to pay to educate the people of this great state.
Chad Warnick is the Agricultural Senator for ASUSU. Comments can be sent to chadwarnick@cc.usu.edu.