<p>imagine if MIT also gave in-state residents a tuition break. "UMass-MIT" would be what the prestige whores call it.</p>
<p>From the "Dear Uncle Ezra" column on Cornell's website:</p>
<ul>
<li>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Question 9 - - October 6, 2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</li>
</ul>
<p>DUE </p>
<p>COULD YOU EXPLAIN HOW THE MORRILL LAND GRANT ACT WORKED?
WHAT LAND WAS SOLD AND TO WHO FOR THE FUNDS TO ESTABLISH CORNELL UNIVERSITY?
'79
Dear '79,</p>
<p>If you think our society is wrought with political uproar and bureaucracy, I can attest that it wasn't any better back in the 1800s! The Morrill Land Grant Act was a wonderful law that has reaped lasting benefits even today, but not without fighting and drama. I will do my best to give you a brief summary.</p>
<p>In 1857 Sen. Justin Smith Morrill introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate appropriating public lands for aid to state agricultural and mechanical colleges (military instruction was later added). This bill was eventually approved by both the house and senate, and on July 2, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law. The appropriation was 30,000 acres per state senator or representative. New York State was the most populated state at the time and benefited greatly from this act, obtaining close to 1 million acres of land. This is when the real battles began.</p>
<p>Two issues needed to be conquered, selling the land and allocating the profits. The state's twenty colleges immediately began vying for the funds and New York initially granted the proceeds, with stipulations, to the People's College in Havana, now the town of Montour Falls. As luck would have it (for Cornellians), the People's College never met the stipulations and the funding became available again. Around that same time, Ezra Cornell and Andrew White were both elected state senators, but there was some conflict in their early meeting. As the funds appeared to become available again, Cornell proposed a bill to split the land grant proceeds and give half to the New York State Agriculture College in Ovid, just up the lake from Ithaca, where Cornell was a trustee. Cornell also proposed that he donate $300,000 to the school and relocate it to Ithaca. White was vehemently opposed to sanctioning this or any bill that split the proceeds of the land grant sale, but conceded that he would support a bill that directed the full proceeds along with Ezra Cornell's personal financial support. </p>
<p>From this dialogue, a partnership between White and Cornell began. The agricultural college was dissolved. The twenty other colleges in the state fought again for the funding. But in 1865 a bill was approved to direct the sale of the federal lands to Cornell University. This funding, coupled with Cornell's personal investment of $500,000 established our great university.</p>
<p>But approval of the law did not mean that the check was in hand. Obtaining money for the lands was a complicated issue! Since New York State did not actually own federal lands, they were deeded the rights to lands out West, most of which were located in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the sudden sale of so many acres from the act dropped the price of the land. Buyers also needed to be found, and there weren't a lot of real estate moguls buying up western land back then. Ultimately a complicated agreement was made with the state in which Ezra Cornell ponied up again, this time to buy a significant piece of the acreage. The land was held in a trust and over the years as sales from land and timber were made, they were turned over to the university endowment. </p>
<p>Signing of the charter in 1865 may have been the birth of Cornell but there was actually a lot of work still to be done, in fact there still is! But on October 7, 1868 Cornell University opened its doors. It was 137 years ago Friday, that Cornell held its opening ceremonies. If you're really interested in the Morrill Land Grant story, Mike Whalen wrote a wonderful article that can be found at <a href="http://provost.cornell.edu/vp_lga/institution.htm%5B/url%5D">http://provost.cornell.edu/vp_lga/institution.htm</a> (it's the 2nd pdf under additional resources). Kammen and Bishop's books are always great resources, as well as Carl Becker's Cornell University: the Founders and the Founding. Or if you're looking for a field trip, the University Archives are a treasure trove of information and memorabilia including some of Justin Morrill's original papers. And finally our local public television station recently produced a documentary called Cornell: Birth of the American University, copies of which are for sale in the Store and on reserve in the library. </p>
<p>Uncle Ezra</p>
<ul>
<li>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Question 10 - - December 9, 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</li>
</ul>
<p>Dear Uncle Ezra,
I have a question concerning Cornell's status as an Ivy League School. According to definition,
an Ivy League school is a private instution, and part of some type of sports league which was established back in the day. These institutions include Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. However, Cornell is made up of not only the private A+S, Engineering, and Architecture schools, but Hum Ec, Ag, and ILR. (Not sure about Hotel)Despite any notability they might have, they are significantly easier to get into for NY state residents, and cheaper as well due to their status as a public state school. Therefore,
isn't it true that these schools are NOT Ivy League? shed the light proud arts and science student
Dear proud,</p>
<p>I too am proud of the College of Arts and Sciences undergraduates just as I am equally proud of the outstanding students in Human Ecology, CALS, ILR, Hotel, Engineering, and AAP, and the graduate and professional schools as well. Cornell University is a unique and wonderful place with many special qualities. I think, however, that you have several misconceptions about the university, including its status as an Ivy League institution, its admissions policies, and the caliber of our student body.</p>
<p>1) The Ivy League is an athletic conference. What sets this group of schools apart from other conferences is its adherence to the Ivy agreement, which most notably reflects common admissions standards and the absence of athletic scholarships. The Ivy schools are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. To learn more see Q11 from 2/18/03 posting. </p>
<p>2) Cornell University is a land grant university for the State of New York, so our mission is both public and private, which is one of the many unique features that sets Cornell apart from our Ivy peers. This standing also puts us in another elite group of other land grant institutions across the U.S.</p>
<p>3) At one time, Cornell University's contract colleges (Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Ecology, and Industrial and Labor Relations) used residency as a factor in the admissions process. However, it is important to note that these colleges have always admitted the best students, regardless of residency. As the applicant pools have begun to shift and the university receives larger numbers of domestic and international applications, university statistics suggest that residency has actually become a non-factor in admission to these colleges. In general, the proportion of New York State residents who are admitted and enroll in these colleges is equivalent to the proportion of NYS students in the entire applicant pool. This has actually been the case for several years.</p>
<p>I hope this helps to clarify things for you. And that you, in turn, will have a newfound respect for all of your CU classmates. </p>
<p>Uncle Ezra</p>
<p>thanks for the posts!</p>
<p>and another:</p>
<ul>
<li>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Question 1 - - December 15, 2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</li>
</ul>
<p>Dear Uncle Ezra,
I heard that Cornell school of arts and sciences is the only technically ivy league school at Cornell. Is this true?</p>
<p>Dear Myth Buster,</p>
<p>Perhaps if our more than 1100 intercollegiate athletes only attended the College of Arts and Sciences this statement would be true. People often forget that the Ivy League is an athletic conference and not an elite group of Northeast colleges and universities. Cornell celebrates the academic fortitude of each of our seven undergraduate colleges. And our Department of Athletics is proud that student athletes make up each of those colleges and schools. Together we are all part of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Thanks Gomestar!
That Uncle Ezra is a wealth of information!</p>
<p>yeah, i just searched "ivy league"...</p>
<p>...there's alot of interesting stuff that pops up when you do that search. There was an interesting question about why they cut down some of the ivy from the buildings, and the answer was quite in-depth on how many types of ivy grow on campus, which types grow faster than others and so forth. Though i woudn't ever think to look up something like that, it's quite the interesting read!</p>
<p>Actually, I read somewhere on cc that Ivy League is actually Roman Numeral IV-- in other words League 4. Since we know the term Ivy League is based on an athletic conference designation, it did seem plausible that it is IV League not the Ivy League. But most people assume the term is based on elite colleges in the northeast that have lots of ivy on the campus. Just wanted to pass that info along too. This has become a very enlightening thread- Thanks guys. Just did a quick google search- according to Chicago Public Library link it is actually 4 League (IV League) as originally there were 4 colleges in this league. That original league combined with the remaining 4 colleges to form what is today known as the Ivy League. So all this hoopla over being in an Ivy school-- and it all comes down to football.</p>
<p>you were right!</p>
<ul>
<li>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Question 7 - - August 25, 2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</li>
</ul>
<p>Dear Uncle Ezra,
Why is the Ivy League called the Ivy League? Whose idea was it? Who were the original members? How were the different schools selected to join? How old is the "ancient eight"?
Sincerely,
curious vines</p>
<p>Dear vines,</p>
<p>Your confusion is well founded. The term "Ivy League" seems to have two meanings, the ubiquitous "prestigious Northeastern university evoking images of ivy covered buildings, sage professors, and inquisitive young minds" and the true meaning, "an athletic conference sponsoring championships in 33 men's and women's sports, and averaging more than 35 varsity teams at each school." The Ivy League schools are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale, which together form an athletic conference like the Big 10 or SEC. What sets them apart from other conferences is a set of shared standards most notably awarding need-based financial aid, with no athletic scholarships. </p>
<p>So how did we become the Ivy League and not the Northeastern Athletic Conference or some other title? Morris Bishop wrote, in a History of Cornell, "In 1901 the Intercollegiate League was formed by Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Cornell. (This, says Bob Kane, was the first intercollegiate athletic league and the origin of that indefinable entity, the Ivy League)." Some say the number of schools (4 or IV) transcended into I-V or ivy, others believe it was the image of those hallowed ivy-covered walls. According to the Ivy League website, (<a href="http://www.ivyleaguesports.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.ivyleaguesports.com</a> >> What is the Ivy League >> History), Stanley Woodward of the New York Herald Tribune first used the phrase "Ivy colleges" in print to descript the eight current Ivy schools plus Army. And in 1935, AP sports editor first used the exact term "Ivy League." But it wasn't until 1945, that the eight schools signed the first Ivy Group Agreement, which applied only to football, and in 1954 the agreement was extended to all intercollegiate sports. Sometimes the Ivies are called "the Ancient Eight" given their founding dates (Cornell is the babe at 1865, Harvard was found in 1636 and the rest were established in the 1700s). For historical reference, remember that the Declaration of Independence wasn't signed until 1776!</p>
<p>And finally, what makes Cornell so special among these schools? Here in the College of Agriculture and Life Science we grow the ivy!</p>