Finding Our North Star: An Archival Exploration of the University of Minnesota's Land-Grant Mission Over Time
Sammi Dittloff, University of Minnesota-Duluth
As a land-grant institution, the University of Minnesota has long understood its tie to public service, community outreach, and publishing accessible research findings (About Us, n.d.; Board of Regents Policy: Mission Statement, 2008; Meeting Schedule & Priorities | Board of Regents, n.d.; Role of the Board | Board of Regents, n.d.; UMN Land Grant 150: University of Minnesota, 2012).
In 1862, the university profited from the sale of approximately 95,000 acres of land via the Morrill Act, which "extracted vast amounts of wealth from Tribal Nations" (Hill, n.d.) The endowment allowed for the university to not only remain operational, but provide relevant education to a "broad segment of the population" (Land-Grant University FAQ, n.d.).
On the 150-year anniversary of the Morrill Act, the University of Minnesota hosted events and published materials stating a reinvigorated effort to position the institution "as a 21st-century land-grant university serving the state, nation, and world"(UMN Land Grant 150: University of Minnesota, 2012). While the Board of Regents still includes a focus on the land-grant mission on its list of priorities, in recent years, groups have come forward to criticize the university for its failings in reconciling past wrongs and shortcomings related to living up to the land-grant mission (Demands, 2014; Meeting Schedule & Priorities | Board of Regents, n.d.; Role of the Board | Board of Regents, n.d.; Hill, n.d.). The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) acknowledges both the fraught past and future responsibilities of these universities to continue to improve the lives of the public (Land-Grant University FAQ, n.d.).
My work aims to understand how those in the Food Science and Nutrition Department at the University of Minnesota talked about and interpreted the land-grant mission by exploring archival records. Can we learn anything about what it takes to recommit and find our North Star again?