Chapter 3: Land-Grant Institutions

The establishment of higher education in the United States began in the 1600s, but many of these early institutions excluded certain student populations. Specifically, the first colleges primarily enrolled White men and were closed to women, religious minorities, and Students of Color (Daun-Barnett et al., 2014). It would be 200 years before Justin Smith Morrill sponsored legislation to reflect the need for broadly accessible agricultural and technical education (Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities [APLU], 2012). In the mid-1800s, the focus shifted to providing more access to higher education for individuals who could not afford to attend private colleges. The establishment of land-grant institutions was the first nationwide effort to provide access to public higher education in the United States. Land-grant universities were founded with a trifold focus: research, teaching, and service.