Central Campus ； Statutory Colleges At Cornell University

Central Campus is the primary academic and administrative section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. It is bounded by Libe Slope on the west, Fall Creek on the north, and Cascadilla Creek on the South.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Central_Campus

Libe Slope in Early Spring. Photo by Devin Jameson

History[edit]

Ezra Cornell donated his farm for the site of the Cornell University as a part of the package to bring New York's land grant college to Ithaca. With the exception of Cascadilla Hall, no buildings were on the site so the campus evolved based on the hilly terrain and the conflicting visions of its designers, starting with Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White.

Over the years, the Buildings and Properties Committee of Cornell's Board of Trustees has maintained the stewardship of campus planning supported by a Vice President for Planning, Planning Office, and in recent years, a University Architect. Periodically, outside architects and consultants, beginning with Frederick Olmsted have been commissioned to develop master plans. Because the entire campus is subject to a special class of zoning, land use decisions are largely made internally rather than by the Ithaca zoning process. However, construction or renovation of statutory college buildings are subject to additional planning steps involving the New York State University Construction Fund Office.

Cycloramic view of campus in 1902 as seen from McGraw Hall

Statutory college

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In American higher education, particular to the state of New York, a statutory college or contract college is a college or school that is a component of an independent, private university that has been designated by the state legislature to receive significant, ongoing public funding from the state. The statutory college is operated by the university on behalf of the state, with the mission of serving specific educational needs of the state. New York's statutory colleges are administratively affiliated with the State University of New York (SUNY) system, and receive funding from SUNY's operating budget; however, SUNY ultimately has little control over the academic functions of these colleges — research to be pursued, admission standards, standards for completion of degrees and which academic programs are offered are determined by the statutory college's private institution. There are five statutory colleges: four located at Cornell University and one located at Alfred University.

The terms "statutory college" and "contract college" derive from the fact that each of these dually affiliated colleges or schools is operated independently from the state pursuant to statute or under contract with the state. In the case of Cornell University, the colleges and schools that do not receive direct funding from the state are generally referred to as endowed colleges, to differentiate them from the statutory colleges. On other campuses they are called "private."

The New York State Education law uses both "contract college" and "statutory college" to describe these state-supported colleges.^[1]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 At Cornell University
• 2 At Alfred University
• 3 At Syracuse University
• 4 Roles of the state and the private university
• 5 Other affiliations between New York State and private universities
• 6 Federal, statutory-college-type relationships within New York State
• 7 Outside New York State
• 8 International use of "statutory college" designator
• 9 External links
  • 9.1 New York State Education Law governing the statutory colleges
  • 9.2 Court of general jurisdiction case law dealing with statutory college matters
  • 9.3 Administrative case law dealing with statutory college matters
• 10 Notes

At Cornell University[edit]

See also: Organization of Cornell University

The four statutory colleges located at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, are:

• New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (established 1888; contract since 1904)
• New York State College of Human Ecology (established 1919; separate college since 1925)
• New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (established 1944)
• New York State College of Veterinary Medicine (established 1894)

Another statutory college, the New York State College of Forestry, was founded at Cornell in 1898, only to be closed in 1903 when outcry over a pending lawsuit led Gov. Odell to veto the appropriations bill that provided funding. However, forestry education was continued at Cornell as part of the College of Agriculture. The College of Forestry was later reestablished at Syracuse University in 1911.^[2][3] Two of Cornell's current statutory colleges — the NYS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the NYS College of Human Ecology — existed as non-state-supported colleges (as the College of Agriculture and the School of Home Economics, respectively) before state legislation was enacted to make each a state-supported entity. The NYS College of Human Ecology and theNYS College of Veterinary Medicine trace their origins to Cornell's agriculture college. However, the College of Veterinary Medicine was actually the first statutory college in New York. The Hotel School started in 1922 as a department within Home Economics, but became a separate, endowed college in 1954.^[4]

The statutory colleges at Cornell grew out of Cornell's designation in 1865 as New York State's land grant college under the Morrill Act. Under the Morrill Act, Cornell received land scrip based on the population of the state, and the proceeds formed the basis of Cornell's initial endowment. Under the terms of the Cornell's 1865 charter from the Legislature, Cornell was obligated to teach agriculture, mechanical arts and mililtary tactic. (Cornell was also obligated to provide free tuition to students from each assembly district.) By the 1890s, Cornell sought state funding to continue its mission in these areas, and the statutory colleges were formed as a vehicle for direct state funding. In addition, around the start of the 20th century, new federal laws provided land-grant colleges (and their agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension services) with annual funding conditioned upon matching state funds. As a result, almost all of Cornell's land grant duties were transferred to its four statutory colleges, which receive such state funds through the present.

Academic programs can be transferred between the statutory college side and the host institution. For example, when private funding was sufficient to assure operation of the hotel administration program of the College of Home Economics, it was spun off as a separateSchool of Hotel Administration in 1950.