President shall continue in place during the pleasure of the Regents of the University. And that from and after the first election, the said President and all future Presidents shall be elected from out of the Professors of the several colleges that may or shall compose the said University; and that no Professor shall be in any wise whatsoever, accounted intelligible' for, or by reason of any religious tenet or tenets that he may or shall possess, or be compelled by any bylaw, or otherwise, to take any religious test-oath whatsoever. And to the end that the intention of the donors and benefactors of the said before mentioned college be not defeated,

V. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all the estate, whether real or personal, which the said Governors of the corporation of King's College held by virtue of the said beforementioned charter, be held and possessed by the said Regents, and applied solely to the use of the said college; and that the said Regents may, and they hereby are empowered to receive and hold for the use of the said college, an estate of the annual value of three thousand and five hundred pounds, in manner specified in the said first above recited charter or letters-patent of incorporation; and for the further promotion of learning and the extension of literature.

VI. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Regents may hold and possess estates, real and personal, to the annual amount of forty thousand bushels of wheat, over and above all profits arising from room-rent or tuition money, and that, whenever any lands, tenements or hereditaments, or other estate, real or personal, shall be given, granted or conveyed to the Regents of the University of the State, without expressing any designation thereof, such estate shall be applied in such manner as to the said Regents shall seem most advantageous to the said University.

Provided, always, That whenever any gift, grant, bequest, devise, or conveyance, shall express the particular use to which the same is to be applied, if adequate thereto, it shall be so applied and no other

wise.

VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Regents be, and they hereby are empowered, to found schools and Colleges in any such part of this State as may seem expedient to them, and to endow the same, vesting such Colleges so endowed with full and ample powers to confer the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, and directing the manner in which such Colleges are to be governed, always reserving to the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the University, and a certain number of the Regents to be appointed by a majority of the said Regents, a right to visit and examine into the state of literature in such College, and to report to the Regents at large any deficiency in the laws of such College, or neglect in the execution thereof, every such school or College being at all times to be deemed a part of the University, and

1 Thus in folio edition of laws; evidently intended for "ineligible." The word is correctly spelled in the MSS. law in Secretary's office.

as such, subject to the controul and direction of the said Regents; and if it should so happen that any person or persons, or any body politic or corporate, should, at his or their expense, found any College or school, and endow the same with an estate, real or personal, of the yearly value of one thousand bushels of wheat, that such school or College shall, on the application of the founder or founders, or their heirs or successors, be considered as composing a part of the said University; and the estate thereunto annexed shall be and hereby is vested in the said Regents of the University, to be applied according to the intention of the donor; and that the said founder and founders, and their heirs, or if a body corporate, their successors, shall be, and hereby are forever hereafter entitled to send a representative for such College or school, who, together with the President, (if the estate be applied to the use of the College), shall be and they hereby are at all times hereafter to be considered as Regents of the said University, and vested with like powers and authorities in all things as in and by this act is given to the other Regents of the said University, and the said College or school shall, in all things not particularly restricted by the donor, conform to the general laws and regulations of the said University.

Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive any person or persons of the right to erect such schools or Colleges as to him or them may seem proper, independent of the said University.

VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whenever any religious body or society of men shall deem it proper to institute a Professorship in the said University, for the promotion of their particular religious tenets, or for any other purpose not inconsistent with religion, morality, and the laws of the State, and shall appropriate a fund for that purpose, not being less than two hundred bushels of wheat per annum, that the Regents of the said University shall cause the same to be applied as the donors shall direct, for the purposes above mentioned; the said Professors so to be appointed, to be subject to the like rules, laws and ordinances, as other the Professors of the said University, and entitled to the like immunities and privileges.

IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Regents and their successors forever shall and may have full power and authority, by the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor of the said University, or any other person or persons by them authorized or appointed, to give and grant to any of the students of the said University, or to any person or persons thought worthy thereof, all such degrees as well in divinity, philosophy, civil and municipal laws, as in every other art, science and faculty whatsoever, as are or may be conferred by all or any of Universities in Europe; and that the Chancellor, or in his absence the Vice-Chancellor, of the said University, for the time being, do sign and seal with the seal of the said corporation, diplomas or certificates of such degrees having been given, other than the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which shall and

may be granted by the President of the College in which the person taking the same shall have been graduated, and the diplomas shall be signed by the said 'President; that the persons to be elected fellows, professors or tutors as aforesaid, be also Regents of the said University, ex officiis, and capable of voting in every case relative only to the respective Colleges to which they shall belong, excepting in such cases wherein they shall respectively be personally concerned or interested.

X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the college within the city of New York, heretofore called King's College, be forever hereafter called and known by the name of "Columbia College."

Upon the 5th of May, a quorum was obtained and the following appointments to office were made by the Board:

Chancellor His Excellency, GOVERNOR CLINTON.

Vice-Chancellor-The Hon. PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT, Lieutenant

Governor.

Treasurer-BROCKHOLST LIVINGSTON, Esq.

Secretary- ROBERT HARPUR, Esq.

The Treasurer was instructed to demand and receive from the late Treasurer and Clerk of King's College all records, papers and property, giving receipts therefor. The new Treasurer was required to give bonds; a committee for repairing the building was appointed, and measures were adopted for filling, without delay, the various offices in the faculty, and in the administration of the affairs of the College. A seal was ordered to be prepared, the occasions for its use prescribed; a committee was authorized to send a person to France to solicit subscriptions, and measures were to be adopted for obtaining aid in other countries of Europe, as might be judged most effectual, and attended with the least expense. 1

1

On the 17th of May, DeWitt Clinton presented himself as a candidate for admission to the junior class, was examined, and admitted as the first student under the new organization. A grammar school was instituted under Mr. Wm. Cochran, who previously had a private school in the city, and he was made temporarily an instructor in Greek and Latin. The Rev. John Peter Tetard, who had been ap

1 On the 4th of June, Col. Clarkson, one of the Regents, was appointed to proceed to France and the United Netherlands to solicit funds, and he accepted the appointment without pay, beyond his expenses. He was furnished with credentials, and authorized to purchase such philosophical apparatus for the college as Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, ministers of the United States, might advise, and as his collections would admit.

pointed professor of French at the first meeting, was allowed to move his school into the College.

Although much zeal was shown by this Board of Regents, as Trustees of the College, in the recovery and care of funds, and in the organization of a faculty, it became apparent that the act above given required amendment, by reducing the number necessary for a quorum and in some other respects, in order to render it more easily and effectual in its operation. An amendatory act was accordingly obtained at the next session, as follows:

"An act to amend an act, entitled An act for granting certain privileges to the College heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an University within this State. Passed the 1st day of May, 1784." 1

PASSED 26th November, 1784.

[Chap. XV, Laws of 8th Session (folio), p. 23.]

WHEREAS, It is represented to the Legislature, that from the dispersed Residences of many of the Regents of the University of this State, and the largeness of the quorum which are made capable of business, the interest and prosperity of the said University have been greatly obstructed. And it is also represented that certain doubts have arisen in the construction of the act, entitled "An act for granting certain privileges to the College heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an University within this State, passed the first day of May, 1784.” For remedy whereof:

I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the Authority of the same, That in addition to the Regents appointed in and by the before-mentioned act, the several persons hereinafter named shall be, and hereby respectively are constituted, Regents of the said University (that is to say), John Jay, Samuel Provost, John H. Livingston, John Rodgers, John Mason, John Ganoe, John Daniel Gros, Johann Ch. Kunze, Joseph Delaplain, Gersham Seixas, Alexander Hamilton, John Lawrence, John Rutherford, Morgan Lewis, Leonard Lispenard, John Cochran, Charles McKnight, Thomas Jones, Malachi Treat and Nicholas Romain, of New York; Peter W. Yates,' Matthew Visscher and Hunlock Woodruff, of Albany; George J. L. Doll, of Ulster; John Vanderbilt, of Kings; Thomas Romain, of Montgomery; Samuel Buel, of Suffolk; Gilbert Livingston, of Dutchess; Nathan Kerr, of Orange; Ebenezer Lockwood, of Westchester; John Lloyd, Jr., of Queens; Harmanus Garrison, of Richmond;

1 See "Legislative Papers," No. 384, State Library.

2 The name of Aaron Burr was in the original draft, at this place.

3 This name and all the following ones were inserted by way of amendment.

and Ebenezer Russel, of Washington. And that the said respective Regents hereby constituted shall enjoy the same power and authority as are granted to, and vested in, the other Regents appointed by the said act as fully and effectually as if they had been therein expressly named.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Chancellor of the said University, and in his absence the Vice-Chancellor, and in the absence of both the Regent next nominated in the before-mentioned act, who shall be present, together with any eight or more of the Regents, duly convened, to form a quorum of Regents for the dispatch of the business and affairs of the said University, whose acts and proceedings shall be as valid and effectual to all intents and purposes as if all the members of the said Regency were actually present; Provided, always, That to constitute a legal meeting of the Regents the time and place for holding the same shall be previously fixed by the Chancellor, or in his absence the Vice-Chancellor, or in the absence of both the Regent next nominated in the said act, by writing under his hand and notice thereof, signed by the Secretary of the University, shall previously be advertised in one of the public newspapers for at least two weeks, to give all the Regents within a convenient distance an opportunity of attending.

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be an annual meeting of the Regents of the said University, which shall be held at the time and place where the Legislature shall first be convened, after the first Monday of July in every year, and that at every such meeting the acts and proceedings of the Regents of the said University shall be reported and examined.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to, and for the clergy of each respective religious denomination in this State, respectively to meet at such time and place as they shall deem proper, after the passing of this act, and then and there, by a majority of voices of the members of each respective denomination so assembled, to elect one of each of their respective bodies to be a Regent of the said University, and in case of death or resignation, to elect successors in the same manner; and every Regent so elected shall have the like powers as any Regent constituted by this act, or the act hereby amended.

V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the next meeting of the Regents of the said University shall be held at the Senate chamber, the day after the rising of the Legislature, if that day shall not happen on Sunday, in which case the said meeting shall be held on the day succeeding, and a sufficient quorum of the Regents being assembled, shall have power to adjourn from time to time, and to any place they shall think fit for the dispatch of the business of the said 'University.

VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Treasurer of this State, and he is hereby authorized and required to advance to the Treasurer