University of Nebraska Lincoln - Cornhusker Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

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II Mkej 5= : Judk r. sro? :»:.:-: • - - lO olfp, • IJI t 1 1 UNIVERSITY HALL Ifistor On the 2rst day of March, 1864. Congress passed an act to enable the people of Nebraska to form a constitution and State government, and offered to admit said State, when so formed, intu the Inion. upon compliance with certain con- ditions therein specified. The pioneers were ambitious and the constitution was formed. On February 9, 1867, it was accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and the State of Nebraska was declared to be one of the United States of America. The record of proceedings of the Legislature of this new State shows an act approved February 15, 1869, That there shall be established in this Slate an institution uiuler the name and style of The University of Nebraska. ' The object of such institution shall be to afford to the inhabitants of this State, the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science, and the arts. Thus, in exactly two years and six days after the Territory was admitted to the Union as a State, its people builded for its sons and daughters for all time a great institution which stands as a monument to the energy, enterprise, and J3](C, iiUL E 20

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x:: NEBRASKA HALL foresight of men and women who began with courage as their chief stock in trade. By this act the general government of the University was vested in a Board of Regents, which consisted of the Governor, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Chancellor of the University, all of whom were members by virtue of their offices, and three persons from each of the three judicial districts. The nine members thus provided for by the Legislature were divided into three classes, bv lot, one person from each district being chosen for each class, and their terms of office were for the first class two years (dating from the first day of March, 1869), for the second class four years and for the third class six years. Their first terms and their terms afterwards to be for six years each. The first members of the Board were appointed by the Governor. This act further provided that the University consist of six departments or colleges, as follows: First, a College of Ancient and Modern Literature. Mathematics, and the Natural Sciences, Second, a College of Agriculture, Third, a College of Law, Fourth, a College of Medicine, Fifth, a College of Practical Science, Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Sixth, a College of Fine Arts. A provision was made that the college of Fine Arts shall be established only