Chap. 234.—An ACT to Appropriate the Income Arising from the Pro-
ceeds of the Land Scrip accruing to Virginia under Act of Congress
of July 2, 1862, and the Acts Amendatory ‘Thereof.

Approved March 19, 1872.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the annual
interest accruing from the proceeds of the land scrip donated
to the state of Virginia by act of congress of July second,
eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and the acts amendatory
thereof, shall be appropriated as follows, and on the conditions
hereinafter named, that is to say: One-third thereof to the
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, in the county of
Elizabeth City, and two-thirds thereof to the Preston and
Olin Institute, in the county of Montgomery.

2. The said annuity to the Preston and Olin Institute shall
be on these express conditions:

First. The name of the said institute shall be changed to
the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.

Second. The trustees of the said institute shall transfer, by
deed or other proper conveyance, the land, buildings, and other
property of said institute, to the Virginia Agricultural and
Mechanical College.

Third. The county of Montgomery shall appropriate twenty
thousand dollars, to be expended in the erection of additional
buildings, or in the purchase of a farm for the use of the said
college.

Fourth. A number of students, equal to the number of
members of the house of delegates, to be apportioned in the
same manner, shall have the privilege of attending said college
without charge for tuition, use of laboratories, or public build-
ings, to be selected by the school trustees of the respective
counties, cities and election districts for said delegates, with
reference to the highest proficiency and good character, from
the white male students of the free schools of their respective
counties, cities and election districts, or, in their discretion,
from others than those attending said free schools.

Fifth. If at any time the said annuity should be withdrawn
from the said Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, loca-
ted at Blacksburg, in the county of Montgomery, the property,
real and personal, conveyed and appropriated to its use and
benefit by the trustees of the Preston and Olin Institute, and
by the county of Montgomery, shall revert to the said trus-
tees and to the said county, respectively, from which it was
conveyed and appropriated.
3. The curriculum of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechan- v
ical College shall embrace such branches of learning as relate |;
to agriculture and the mechanic arts, without excluding other
scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics.

4. The said students, privileged to attend said college with- ¥
out charge for tuition, use of laboratories, or public buildings, 4
shall be selected as soon as may be after the establishment of
the said school, and each second year thereafter: provided, -
that on the recommendation of the faculty of the said college s
for more than ordinary diligence and proficiency, any student P
may be returned by the said trustees for a longer period.

5. As soon after the passage of this act as may be, and on V
the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, ™
and on the same day in every third year thereafter, the gov-
ernor, by and with the consent of the senate, shall appoint
nine persons as visitors of the said college, who shall continue 1
in office until the appointment and acceptance of their suc-
cessors; and if a vacancy occur in the oflice of visitor, the V
governor shall fill the same. P

6. If any visitor fail to perform the duties of his office for ?
one year, without good cause shown to the board, the said
board shall, at the next meeting after the end of such year,
cause the fact of such failure to be recorded in the minutes of
their proceedings, and certify the same to the governor, and
the office of such visitor shall thereupon be vacant. If so
many of such visitors fail to perform their duties that a quo-
rum thereof do not attend for a year, upon a certificate thereof
being made to the governor by the rector or any member of
the board, or by the chairman of the faculty, the offices of all
the visitors failing to attend shall be vacant.

7. The board of visitors shall appoint from their own body F
a rector, who (or, in his absence, a president pro tempore), ®
shall preside at their meetings. They shall also appoint a clerk b
to the board.

8. The said board shall meet at Blacksburg, in the county of }
Montgomery, at least once a year, and at such other times or
place as they shall determine, the days of meeting to be fixed
by them. Special meetings of the board may be called by the s
governor, the rector, or any three members. In either of said "
cases, notice of. the time and place of meeting shall be given
to every other member.

9. The said board shall be charged with the care and preser- c
vation of the property belonging to the college. They shall °
appoint as many professors as they deem proper, and, with the 4
assent of two-thirds of the members of the board, may remove 5
any professor or other officer of the college. They shall pre- *
scribe the duties of each professor, and the course and mode F
of instruction. They shall appoint a president of the college, ¢
and may employ such agents or servants as may be necessary;
shall regulate the government and discipline of the students; c
and generally, in respect to the government of the college, *
may make such regulations as they deem expedient, not con-
trary to law. Such reasonable expenses as the visitors may
incur in the discharge of their duties shall be paid out of the
funds of the collece.

10. Each professor shall receive a stated salary, to be fixed
by the board of visitors; and the board shall fix the fees to be
charged for tuition of students other than those allowed under
this act to attend the college free of tuition, which shall be a
credit to the fund of the college.

11. The trustees of said college shall transfer to the said
board of visitors the real estate and buildings, and such other
property as they design to be used under this act, with an esti-
mated valuation thereof; and if, in the opinion of the visitors,
such valuation should be unjust, appraisers shall be selected
and agreed upon by the visitors and the trustees, who shall fix
such valuation.

12. A portion of said fund, not exceeding ten per centum of
the proportion assigned to the Agricultural and Mechanical
College, and the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute,
may be expended, in the discretion of the boards of visitors of
the said respective schools, for the purchase of lands for expe-
rimental farms for each of them; and a portion of the accruing
interest may be, from time to time, expended by the respective
boards of visitors in the purchase of laboratories suitable and
appropriate for the said schools.

13. The said appropriation to the Hampton Normal and
Agricultural Institute shall be on the following conditions,
namely: That the trustees of the same shall, out of the annual
interest accruing, as soon as practicable, institute, support and
maintain therein, one or more schools or departments wherein
the leading object shall be instruction in such branches of
learning as relate especially to agriculture and the mechanic
arts, and military tactics; and the governor, as soon after the
passage of this act as may be, and on the first day of January,
eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and on the same day in
every fourth year thereafter, shall appoint five persons, three
of whom shall be of African descent, citizens of the common-
wealth, to be curators of the fund hereby set apart for the use
of the said institute, and without the personal presence of a
majority of said curators, after a reasonable notice to all of
them to be present, and without the sanction of a majority of
such as are present, recorded in the minutes of the said board
of trustees, no action of said board taken under and by virtue
of this act shall be valid or lawful.

And the trustees of said college may select not less than one
hundred students, with reference to their character and profi-
ciency, from the colored free schools of the state, who shalt
have the privilege of attending the said institute on the same
terms that state students are allowed to attend the Agricul-
tural and Mechanical College under the third section of this
act.

14. An annual report shall be made by the proper authorities
of each of said institutions, after the close of each collegiate
year, of the condition of the institute, and its receipts and dis-
bursements during the preceding year, with tue amount of
salary paid to each professor, and the amount received in tui-
tion fees from pay students; recording any improvements and
experiments made, with their costs and results; and such other
matters, including state, industrial and economical statistics,
as may be supposed useful—copies of which shall be delivered
to the state superintendent of public instruction, to be laid
before the general assembly.

15. The general assembly expressly reserves to itself the |
right and power, at any time, to repeal or alter this act, and to |
withdraw from either of said institutions the whole or any part
of the appropriations herein granted.

16. This act shall be in force from its passage. |