| Excerpts from Campbell, John R. Reclaiming a Lost Heritage...Land-Grant
and Other Higher Education Initiatives for the Twenty-first Century. Ames:
Iowa State University Press 1995.
1-800-862-6657 |
American Scholar, statesman, and third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson believed an educated populace is essential to fulfilling and preserving the signal ideals of American democracy. Yale graduate Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illinois concurred, and is credited with conceptualizing, during the 1840s, the Land-Grant education system. His postulate was embraced by U.S. Representative Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont who, after several tries, successfully orchestrated Congressional passage of the first Land-Grant Act which President Lincoln signed into law July 2, 1862.
Public benefits from passage of the Land-Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890, the Hatch Act of 1887, and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 have been remarkable. Noteworthy benefits of agricultural teaching, research, and extension to the general public include the fact that, using less than 1 percent of the world's agricultural labor force, U.S. farmers and ranchers produce over 8 percent of the world's food grains, 27 percent of feed grains, 21 percent of beef, 28 percent of poultry. On average, each U.S. producer provides food for more than 130 people around the world. For healthy, safe, convenient foods, U.S. consumers spend only about 11 percent of their total personal disposable income -- by far, the best food bargain on earth.
In today's highly technological, globally competitive society, we must continuously remind ourselves not only of this history but also of a promise of a tomorrow founded on the concept that education and research are essential elements of continuing progress as a nation. Moreover, we must never forget that food will always be an essential need of every healthy human being, and therefore that the agricultural front will always be a critical part of Land-Grant colleges and universities, representing one of the great educational wonders of the world.
The proportionate share of state-appropriated money going to support higher education has been decreasing for several years in most states. Yet, in today's fiscal climate, public support is absolutely essential for the survival and strengthening of Land-Grant universities. These institutions must develop and communicate a vision of mission with their carious publics. The general public can be expected to respond favorably if the message is shared.
The future of Land-Grant colleges and universities will be what its people make it. That future will be shaped by choices people make and structures people choose to implement. Institutional excellence, as with a kite, flies as high as the forces behind it. And those forces include individuals external to the academy who will decide how much public support is to be allocated as well as creative, professionally competent, committed people working inside the academy who will accomplish the university's deeds.
All members of the Land-Grant system can take pride in what has been accomplished so far. Now we must recommit our collective efforts to doing more. Past success does not assure future success. It is important to reaffirm our ideals, our rich heritage, our traditions. This is the time to rekindle our pioneering spirit, to prepare to meet the challenges and fulfill the opportunities of the twenty-first century.
By John R. Campbell
President Emeritus and
Professor of Animal Science
Oklahoma State University