VERMONT.

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE VERMONT AGRICULTURAL College.

(Approved November 22, 1864.)

SECTION 1. Justin S. Morrill, Edwin Hammond, Roderick Richardson, Elijah Cleaveland, Seneca M. Dorr, Horace Herrick, Peter T. Washburn, Orville G. Wheeler, Treno W. Park, Lemuel H. Tabor, Horace Fairbanks, Samuel H. Stevens, George G. Benedict, Frederick Holbrook, their associates and successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate, by the name of the Vermont Agricultural College, the leading object of which shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agriculture and the Mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life, to be located as hereinafter provided; and they and their successors, and such as shall be duly elected trustees and members of said corporation, shall be and remain a body corporate by that name forever. The above named corporators shall be called together for their first meeting by the Governor, at such time and place as he shall select, and shall then be divided by lot into three classes; the first class, consisting of five members, shall vacate their office at the end of two years from the time of their election; the second class, consisting of five members, shall vacate their office at the end of four years from the time of their election; and the third class, consisting of four members, shall vacate their office at the end of six years from the time of their election; and it shall be the duty of the Legislature, at the expiration of the term of office of any of the above named corporators, to elect a person to supply the vacancy, whose term of office shall continue six years. And for the orderly conducting of the business of said corporation, the said trustees shall have power and authority, from time to time, as occasion may require, to elect a president, secretary and treasurer, and such other officers of said corporation as may be found necessary, and to declare the duties and tenures of their respective offices; and whenever vacancies shall occur in the board of trustees, the legislature shall fill the same. Provided, that the number of members shall never be greater than fourteen, exclusive of the governor of the State and the president of the faculty, each of whom shall be, ex-officio, a member of said corporation. Provided, further, that all future elections or appointments to said board of trustees shall be made with special reference to preventing any religious denominational preponderance in said board.

§ 2. The said corporation shall have power to determine at what times and places their meetings shall be holden, and the manner of notifying the trustees to convene at such meetings; and also, from time to time, to elect a president of said college, and such professors, instructors and other officers of said college, as they shall judge most for the interest thereof; and to determine the duties, salaries, responsibilities and tenures of their several offices. And said corpora

tion are further empowered to purchase or erect and keep in repair such houses and other buildings as they shall judge necessary for said college; and also to make and ordain, as occasion may require, reasonable rules, orders and by-laws, not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this State, with reasonable penalties, for the good government of said college, and for the regulation of their own body; and also to determine and regulate the course of instruction in said college, and to confer such appropriate degrees as they may determine and prescribe. Provided, that no corporate business shall be transacted at any meeting, unless one half at least of the trustees are present.

§ 3. The said corporation may have a common seal, which they may alter or renew at pleasure; and said corporation may sue and be sued in all actions, real, personal or mixed, and may take and hold in fee simple, or any less estate, by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any lands, tenements, or other estate, real or personal.

§ 4. The clear rents and profits of all the estate, real and personal, of which the said corporation shall be seized and possessed, shall be appropriated to the use of said college, in such manner as shall most effectually promote the objects declared in the first section of this act, and as may be recommended from time to time by said corporation.

§ 5. The legislature of this State may grant any further powers to, or alter, limit, annul or restrain any of the powers vested by this act in said corporation, as shall be found necessary to promote the best interest of said college, and may appoint overseers or visitors of said college, with all necessary powers for the better aid, preservation and government thereof; and the said corporation shall make an annual report of its condition, financial and otherwise, to the legislature at the opening of its session.

§ 6. The board of trustees shall determine the location of said college, in some suitable place within this State, and may, in their discretion, purchase or obtain by gift, grant or otherwise, in connection therewith, a tract of land containing at least one hundred acres, to be used as an experimental farm, or otherwise, so as best to promote the objects of the institution. And they may also, in their discretion, make such provision for the manual labor of the students on said farm, as they shall deem reasonable.

§ 7. One-tenth of all the moneys which may be received by the State treasurer from the sale of land scrip, by virtue of the provisions of the one hundred and thirtieth chapter of the acts of the thirty-seventh Congress, at the second session thereof, approved July 2, A.D. 1862, and of the laws of this State, shall be paid to said college, and appropriated towards the purchase of said site or farm. Provided, said trustees shall determine to procure such farm; and provided further, that the said college shall first secure, by valid subscription or otherwise, the further sum of not less than one hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of erecting suitable buildings thereon, providing libraries and apparatus, and defraying the necessary expenses of the college; and upon satisfactory evidence that this proviso has been complied with, the governor is authorized, from time to time, to draw his warrants therefor.

8. When the said college shall have been duly organized, located and established, as, and for the purposes specified in this act, there shall be appropriated and paid to its treasurer each year, on the warrant of the governor, the

annual interest or income which may be received from the fund created under and by virtue of the act of Congress named in the seventh section of this act, and the laws of this State accepting the provisions thereof and relating to the

same.

§ 9. In the event of a dissolution of said corporation by its voluntary act, at any time, the real and personal property belonging to the corporation shall revert and belong to the State, to be held by the same and be disposed of as it may see fit, in the advancement of education in agriculture and the mechanic The legislature shall have authority, at any time, to withhold the portion of the interest on income from said fund provided in this act, whenever the corporation shall cease or fail to maintain a college within the provisions and spirit of this act and the act of Congress before mentioned, or for any cause which they deem sufficient.

arts.

§ 10. This act shall be in operation until said corporation shall have procured valid and solvent subscriptions, to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, to be applied to the endowment or other uses of said college; and said corporation shall cease to exist on the 15th day of November, 1865, unless the foregoing subscription shall have been obtained.

§ 11. This act shall be under the control of all future legislatures, to alter, amend or repeal.

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT AND STATE AGRICULTURAL

COLLEGE.

(Approved November 9, 1865.)

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont : SECTION 1. The University of Vermont and the Vermont Agricultural College, with such other corporations as may hereafter become united therewith, are hereby united and constituted a body corporate, by the name of the "University of Vermont and State Agricultural College," for the purpose of carrying out the objects contemplated in their respective charters, and, as such, shall be and remain a body corporate forever, and as such may hold and convey real and personal estate, have a common seal, and have all the rights and powers incident to corporations.

§ 2. Each of the two institutions hereby united shall, on or before the fifteenth day of December next, elect by ballot nine of their number, who, with their successors, shall thereafter constitute its board of trustees, and likewise constitute a part of the board of trustees of the corporation hereby created, and the nine trustees of the said Agricultural College, so elected, shall be divided by lot into three classes: the first class, consisting of three members, shall vacate their office at the end of two years from their election; the second class, consisting of three members, shall vacate their office at the end of four years from the time of their election; and the third class, consisting of three members, shall vacate their office at the end of six years from the time of their election; and it shall be the duty of the legislature, at its session next preceding the time of the expiration of the terms of office of said trustees, to elect persons to supply such vacancies, whose terms of office shall continue six years, and it shali

be the duty of the said nine trustees of the University of Vermont, to elect successors to fill any vacancy which may occur among their number, and all the trustees so elected as is hereinbefore provided, shall, together with his excellency, the governor of the State, and the president, who shall be, ex-officio, a member, constitute an entire board of trustees of the corporation hereby created, who shall have the entire management and control of its property and affairs, and in all things relating thereto, except in the elections to fill vacancies as aforesaid, shall act together jointly, as one entire board of trustees; provided, that all future elections or appointments to said board of trustees shall be made with special reference to preventing any religious denominational preponderance in said board.

§ 3. Said board of trustees, a majority of whom may constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, may confer such honors and degrees as are usually given in colleges and universities, and any other appropriate degrees, and may, from time to time, as occasion may require, elect a president, also a secretary, treasurer, librarian, professors, instructors, and any other necessary officers, and prescribe their duties, salaries and term of office, and may make all necessary by-laws and regulations for the government of themselves and others connected with the institution, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, and therein prescribe the terms of admission, rates of tuition, modes of study, and course of instruction, including any proper regulations for uniform, discipline and military drill, as well as for experimental and practical instruction in the different branches of agricultural labor.

§ 4. Said board of trustees shall have the right to use, control, sell or dispose of all the real estate and personal property now belonging to the University of Vermont, and belonging to any other institution at the time of its union, if such union shall be made with this corporation agreeably to this act, subject, however, to the payment of any debts of such institutions existing at the time of such union, and subject to any trusts, duties and obligations connected therewith, and shall be entitled to receive and use, for the purposes aforesaid, the rents and uses of any of the aforesaid lands, including the rents and uses of all such lands as have been heretofore reserved in any charter of land in this State for the use and benefit of any college, and may have the same rights in respect to said lands, and to any leases of the same, and to any rents arising therefrom, that said institutions respectively now have, and may maintain suits in their own name, or in the name of such new corporation, to recover the same; provided, that the rights of all parties shall remain, and the same defenses shall be had to such suits as if the same were brought in the name and as between the said original parties; and the corporation hereby created shall, at alt times, assume, discharge and perform all the debts, duties, trusts and obligations which said several institutions were subject to at the time they became united in said new corporation, by virtue of this act.

§ 5. There shall at all times be maintained in the institution hereby created, such instruction in the various branches of learning, as is contemplated in the several charters of each of the institutions hereby united; and more particularly including a four years' course of studies, similar to such as are generally taught in other colleges, and not inferior to that recently taught in said University of Vermont; and in addition to that which is usually taught in other

colleges, the instruction in this institution shall include such enlarged facilities and extended scope and variety in the study of those branches which relate to military tactics, agriculture and the mechanic arts, as shall render the whole instruction in conformity with said act of Congress, as well as with the several charters aforesaid.

§ 6. Said trustees may, in their discretion, obtain by gift, grant or otherwise, a tract of land which, together with the land now owned by the Univer sity of Vermont, shall amount to at least one hundred acres, to be used as an experimental farm, whereon they may make any desirable experiments in the breeding of stock, field culture, the analysis and adaptation of soils, and horticultural and botanical gardening, or either of them, as they may deem proper, and also for the purpose of military encampment, target-firing, drill and review; and said trustees may use, lease or dispose of the same, as they may think proper, so as best to promote the objects of the institutions. And in case said land shall be procured, as aforesaid, a sum not to exceed one-tenth of the money which has been received by the State treasurer for the sale of land scrip, in pursuance of the act of Congress authorizing the same, shall be paid to said board of trustees for the purposes aforesaid; provided, that no agricultural labor shall be required of students, except by their voluntary agreement or consent.

§ 7. Whenever this corporation shall have been duly organized, there shall be appropriated and paid to its treasurer, annually, for the purpose herein mentioned, on the warrant of the governor, the interest or the income which may be received from the fund created under and by virtue of the act of Congress.

§ 8. The corporation hereby created shall make annual reports to the legislature of this State, of their condition, financial and otherwise, and make and distribute the reports required by the act of Congress herein referred to, and the legislature may annually appoint a board of visitors, who may annually examine the affairs of said corporation.

9. The permanent location of the institution hereby created shall be in Burlington, in said State of Vermont, and the first meeting of the board of trustees shall be there held on the 15th day of November next, at seven o'clock, P. M., or if such meeting shall not be held at that time, it shall be held at such other time and place as the governor of this State may appoint, seasonable notice of said appointment having been first given to each of the trustees or corporators of the Vermont University and Vermont Agricultural College.

§ 10. The president and fellows of Middlebury College and the Norwich University, or either of them, may hereafter, with the assent and concurrence by vote of a majority of each of the nine trustees elected as aforesaid, and their successors, become incorporated and united with the corporation hereby created, by vote of their said corporations, at any meeting legally warned and holden, and by leaving for record, in the office of the secretary of the state, a true and attested copy of such vote or votes, and of all the proceedings of the meeting or meetings at which the votes aforesaid were passed, and causing the same to be recorded in said office.

11. If, at any time, the corporation hereby created shall fail substantially to carry out the provisions and requirements of this act, the supreme court of this State may, at any stated session thereof, having first given due notice to said corporation, annul and vacate this charter, and in such case, or in case said