SDSU History

[Hasbeen]

A little history here. After South Dakota and North Dakota became states in 1889, our institution was known as South Dakota Agricultural College (regardless of what Wikipedia says) until the title of "South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts" was conferred.

As for USD, here goes. Back in 1902, USD started offering engineering courses. They had the gonads to take out advertisements in newspapers that stated that USD was the only institution in the state authorized to confer degrees in civil engineering and mechanical engineering. At the time, there was not a single member of the faculty at USD that had any engineering education whatsoever.

Further, the USD power group and its alumni insisted that the engineering programs at State be termed "mechanic arts" ... in an attempt to make their offerings more attractive. The Regents agreed (until 15 years ago, the Regents always favored USD over the other state schools) and thus, the name change: South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Then, USD's power group asked the attorney general for an opinion moving the engineering from State College to USD. The attorney general didn't see it their way.

The big power play happened beginning in 1931. USD's alumni and supporters attempted to gut South Dakota State. They wanted all engineering programs and the pharmacy program to go to SDSU. The plan failed. Then, help came in the form of the Great Depression. The Legislature handed down huge cuts and USD's engineering dreams went away. But, they didn't go down without a fight. A group of USD alums sued the Regents in the State Supreme Court ... and here is what they wanted: eliminate all engineering courses at SDSU; all music, journalism, economics, education, general sciences, history, political science, sociology, chemistry, English, foreign languages, mathematics and psychology classes ... all cut at SDSU. In return, SDSU would get USD's home economics program.

All of this information comes courtesy of the great Halvor Christian Solberg of Solberg Hall fame. He was always weary of the USD's motives. I'm with Halvor.

[slosho]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

A little history here. After South Dakota and North Dakota became states in 1889, our institution was known as South Dakota Agricultural College (regardless of what Wikipedia says) until the title of "South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts" was conferred.

As for USD, here goes. Back in 1902, USD started offering engineering courses. They had the gonads to take out advertisements in newspapers that stated that USD was the only institution in the state authorized to confer degrees in civil engineering and mechanical engineering. At the time, there was not a single member of the faculty at USD that had any engineering education whatsoever.

Further, the USD power group and its alumni insisted that the engineering programs at State be termed "mechanic arts" ... in an attempt to make their offerings more attractive. The Regents agreed (until 15 years ago, the Regents always favored USD over the other state schools) and thus, the name change: South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Then, USD's power group asked the attorney general for an opinion moving the engineering from State College to USD. The attorney general didn't see it their way.

The big power play happened beginning in 1931. USD's alumni and supporters attempted to gut South Dakota State. They wanted all engineering programs and the pharmacy program to go to SDSU. The plan failed. Then, help came in the form of the Great Depression. The Legislature handed down huge cuts and USD's engineering dreams went away. But, they didn't go down without a fight. A group of USD alums sued the Regents in the State Supreme Court ... and here is what they wanted: eliminate all engineering courses at SDSU; all music, journalism, economics, education, general sciences, history, political science, sociology, chemistry, English, foreign languages, mathematics and psychology classes ... all cut at SDSU. In return, SDSU would get USD's home economics program.

All of this information comes courtesy of the great Halvor Christian Solberg of Solberg Hall fame. He was always weary of the USD's motives. I'm with Halvor.

So what your saying is our countrymen to the south have been envous/and jelous from the start.

[JackJD]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

A little history here. After South Dakota and North Dakota became states in 1889, our institution was known as South Dakota Agricultural College (regardless of what Wikipedia says) until the title of "South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts" was conferred.

Several sources show the title "South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (usually shortened to South Dakota State College or SDSC) became the institution's name in 1904 and that remained the official name until the Legislature changed it to South Dakota State University in the 1964 legislative session. If one takes a look at the Session Laws of the legislature prior to 1964, what was then commonly known as SDSC was usually referred to in legislation as the "agriculture college". For many years prior to 1964, USD was often referred to as the State University or the State University at Vermillion. [The South Dakota Constitution, Art XIV, Sec. 3, set up the board of regents to have control over various institutions including "the state university" and the "agriculture college". Note the lack of capitalization -- those weren't names but were only intended to be descriptions, just like the reference to "the normal schools" etc..]

The court case Hasbeen wrote about in his post is the 1933 case State ex rel. Bryant v. Dolan, 61 SD 530, 249 NW 923 (1933). KEEP IN MIND IT'S ANCIENT HISTORY BUT SOMEWHAT ENTERTAINING. Here's the introductory sentence from the SD Supreme Court decision:

This is an original proceeding brought by the relators in the name of the state of South Dakota to restrain the defendants as the board of regents of the state of South Dakota from discontinuing the courses of general and professional engineering and home economics at the State University at Vermillion; and also to restrain said defendants, as such board, from continuing the course of general or professional engineering at the School of Mines at Rapid City; and also to restrain said board from continuing the course of general or professional engineering, a school of pharmacy, and certain courses in arts and science at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Brookings.

[Hasbeen]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

One more thing to share on USD's handiwork. At the time SDSC was petitioning the Regents and Legislature on changing the name to South Dakota State University (1962-64), the alumni and minions of USD worked hard to stop it. As the USD alumni director stated, "The name change would give State leverage for expansion." Oh dear! And even after it looked like the Legislature would adopt the name change, an amendment was offered by sympathetic USD backers to allow us to become, "South Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Science." It failed.

[jackdaniel]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

I didn't know USD tried so hard using politicians to do their bidding to damage SDSU from prospering and growing.Sure glad our politicians of today are a lot brighter and see the successes of either university as a proud accomplishment for the state and the people of South Dakota.Thanks for the history lesson.

[Nidaros]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

Several sources show the title "South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (usually shortened to South Dakota State College or SDSC) became the institution's name in 1904 and that remained the official name until the Legislature changed it to South Dakota State University in the 1964 legislative session. If one takes a look at the Session Laws of the legislature prior to 1964, what was then commonly known as SDSC was usually referred to in legislation as the "agriculture college". For many years prior to 1964, USD was often referred to as the State University or the State University at Vermillion. [The South Dakota Constitution, Art XIV, Sec. 3, set up the board of regents to have control over various institutions including "the state university" and the "agriculture college". Note the lack of capitalization -- those weren't names but were only intended to be descriptions, just like the reference to "the normal schools" etc..]

The court case Hasbeen wrote about in his post is the 1933 case State ex rel. Bryant v. Dolan, 61 SD 530, 249 NW 923 (1933). KEEP IN MIND IT'S ANCIENT HISTORY BUT SOMEWHAT ENTERTAINING. Here's the introductory sentence from the SD Supreme Court decision:

This is an original proceeding brought by the relators in the name of the state of South Dakota to restrain the defendants as the board of regents of the state of South Dakota from discontinuing the courses of general and professional engineering and home economics at the State University at Vermillion; and also to restrain said defendants, as such board, from continuing the course of general or professional engineering at the School of Mines at Rapid City; and also to restrain said board from continuing the course of general or professional engineering, a school of pharmacy, and certain courses in arts and science at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Brookings.

Just as personal comment, I think this decision and probably others that I am not aware of, are what made most of the state assisted institutions very possessive of their respected courses of study. Biggest example that comes to mind is the USD School of Business and offering accounting courses at places like SDSU. I believe currently one can now get a minor in accounting but its been a battle over the years to make that happen. I don't expect to see medical or law schools at SDSU any time soon either.

This is kind of personal thing, but I wanted major in accounting but had to settle for six semester hours at SDSU. Back before the abundance of student loan programs, it was a hard sell to my Norwegian born father that I wanted to go down the road to Vermillion, when my parents lived blocks from the SDSU campus. Fortunately, I did not dodge the draft and enlisted in the US Navy and received a GI bill which allowed to attend night classes and pickup all the courses that were not offered at SDSU.
This desire to have engineering at USD has pretty died since the controversy in the 1970's. The then Dr. Briggs made the comment about moving Engineering to Vermillion made about as much sense as castrating your prize bull. What a guy!

[goon]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

college on the hill is a great read about a lot of this if you havent read it yet.

[jackrabit1]

Re: Hobo day "THE THREAD"

college on the hill is a great read about a lot of this if you havent read it yet.

Got it on my bookshelf. Great book!

[jbjack]

Re: SDSU History

Wasn't the 1970's controversy related to moving all engineering to School of Mines? As a small anecdote, I once ran into a group of Mines engineering grads who referred to SDSU as the "other" engineering school in South Dakota.

I wouldn't expect to see a law school at SDSU either. In fact, if there were to be any change in legal education, it might be to eliminate the program, which I believe Lee Schoenbeck proposed in a not too distant session. As for the existing program, and more particularly the building it is housed in, it was designed by legislative direction so that it would not accommodate class sizes of more than 75. The SD legislature having many attorneys, there being no perceived need for added competition for a finite resource (clients). That did not prevent administration from admitting classes closer to 100 than 75 during my era, many of whom were from far corners of our country who chose USD because "it was were [they] could get in."

[JackJD]

Re: SDSU History

... The SD legislature having many attorneys,...

Not true. There are a total of 35 Senators and 70 House members in the South Dakota legislature. In the 2016 session, there was one Senator with a law degree: Art Rusch, a retired judge. In the House 2016 session, there were eight house members with law degrees (not all of those eight list being a lawyer as their occupation -- I think only six can be considered practicing lawyers). The SD Legislature has very few lawyers. We have difficulty in this state getting lawyers to run for the legislature (a situation not unique to South Dakota: the number of practicing lawyers in most state legislatures is much lower than most people assume).

I agree on your primary point: no law school at SDSU -- that won't happen and there's no reason to have a second state-supported law school in South Dakota. I just want to dispel the oft-repeated statement that there are a lot of lawyers in the legislature. The nine serving in the 2016 legislature is about as high a number as we've seen for years. I think at least two are not returning next year.