University nears resolving 100-year land grant issues Contributed Photo 7KH8QLYHUVLW\RI$ODVND)DLUEDQNVFDPSXVDQGRWKHUFDPSXVHVLQWKHV\VWHPZRXOGEHQHÀWIURPUHFHLYLQJODQGVHQWLWOHGWRWKHP
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What’s happening now With budget pressures mounting on state agen- cies and institutions including the university there L]PYPbPʬZ]_^`YOP]bLdbT_S^`[[Z]_Q]ZX2Za Mike Dunleavy and legislators to stitch together a ^ZW`_TZY_SL_bTWWʭYLWWdRP__SP`YTaP]^T_dT_^WLYO^ Originally there were to be 470,000 acres in the `YTaP]^T_dɪ^ WLYO PYOZbXPY_ 1Z] OTʬP]PY_ ]PL - sons, all complex, only 110,000 acres were actual- WdNZYaPdPOWPLaTYRLRL[ZQ !LN]P^0aPY short of its full entitlement the existing endowment generates $10 million to $15 million a year for the university. Most of the income is from timber har- vesting and real estate sales and rentals. Based on this experience, even a full 470,000-acres endow- ment wouldn’t fund a big part of the $300-mil- lion-plus in state funds needed to support the UA `YWP^^LMTRZTWʭPWOZ]]TNSXTYP]LWOP[Z^T_bP]P found on the university’s lands. But it would help. How did the endowment wind up being shorted? The story begins with the Land-Grant College Act of 1862, or Morrill Act, which provided grants of WLYO_Z^_L_P^_ZʭYLYNP_SPP^_LMWT^SXPY_ZQNZW - leges specializing in “agriculture and the mechan- ic arts.” The act was expanded later in the 19th NPY_`]d _Z ]P\`T]P WLYOR]LY_ NZWWPRP^ _Z Z[P]L_P
BY TIM BRADNER
For The Alaska Miner The University of Alaska and state Department of Natural Resources may be closing in on a way to resolve 100-year-old problems in establishing a large land endowment to help support the uni- versity. In 1917, the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines (renamed University of Alaska in 1935) was established as a federal land grant col- lege, one of 70 in the nation. For each, Congress had provided, in the Morrill Act of 1862, that federal lands would be endowed to support the new institutions of higher learning. Alaska’s university is the only land-grant college not to receive its full Morrill Act entitlement. In ^`M^P\`PY_ LN_TZY^ .ZYR]P^^ []ZaTOPO LOOT_TZYLW land, but very little of it wound up in UA’s land endowment. Why this happened is a tangled story, mired in controversy and lawsuits.
The Alaska Miner
October 2019
52
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