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PUBLIC LAW 87-163-AUG. 25, 1961
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ST A T.
Public Law 87-163 August 25, 1961 [H. J. R e s. 436]
Land-grant universities and colleges. Centennial.
JOINT RESOLUTION To provide for recognition of the centennial of the establishment of the national system of land-grant universities and colleges. Whereas July 2j 1962, marks the centennial of the first Morrill Act granting public lands to States and territories in support of colleges to emphasize branches of learning relating to agriculture and mechanical arts, including other scientific and classical studies and military tactics; and Whereas the Act completed the breakaway of American higher education from the tradition of limited educational opportunity, restricted by heredity, occupation, or money, and opened wide the doors of college to all with the ability and will to learn; and Whereas the land-grant institutions located in the fifty States and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico carry research and teaching from the campus to farms and industries and the citizenry of these States and Commonwealth, seeking solutions to economic, social, and physical ills, and enriching the cultural life of the people; and Whereas the land-grant universities and colleges today enroll approximately 20 per centum of the country's college population and grant 40 per centum of all doctorate degrees; approximately half of the doctorate degrees in the physical sciences, engineering, and the health professions, 25 per centum in the arts and languages, in business, commerce, and educational training, and all of the doctorates in agriculture; and Whereas the land-grant system of universities and colleges has become the Nation's largest single source of trained and educated manpower and now contributes more than half the Nation's trained scientists and nearly half of all Regular and Reserve officers entering the Armed Forces through the military programs of civilian institutions; and Whereas May 15, 1962, marks the centennial of the establishment of the United States Department of Agriculture and this department and the land-grant universities and colleges have historically maintained and currently maintain close cooperative relationship which have been a significant factor in producing the unparalleled agricultural revolution that has taken place in this Nation; and Whereas the land-grant universities and c o l l i e s maintain close working relationships with the United States Departments of Commerce, Defense, Health, Education, and Welfare, Interior, Labor, and State; the United States Information Agency; the International Cooperation Administration; and other agencies and departments of the Government: Now, therefore, be it Resolved 6y the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it is fitting and proper to commemorate the centennial of this historic Act of Congress by appropriate celebration; that the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation recognizing the centennial of the establishment of the land-grant system of universities and colleges and to provide for suitable cooperation of agencies of the Government with the land-grant universities and colleges throughout the period of the centennial observance; that such centennial otherwise appropriately be celebrated; and that the historical and present close cooperative relationship with the departments and establishments of the Government be recognized in connection with such celebration. Approved August 25, 1961.
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