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Idaho Women’s Basketball 2008-09 The university of idaho The University of Idaho - a brief history by Carlos Schwantes The location of the University of Idaho in Moscow resulted from the most important Presidential signature that never was (at least from an Idahoan’s perspective) and is validated by no less an authority than the state’s own constitution. And therein lies a tale typical of the Gem State’s fascinating history. The first serious move to establish an Idaho university dated from 1887 when the territorial legislature passed a bill proposing a college at Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls), but Gov. Edward A. Stevenson vetoed it. He supported the idea of a public university but believed that the bill suffered from serious omissions. At about the same time, both houses of Congress approved a measure severing the Panhandle from the rest of Idaho and reattaching it to Washington. Citizens of Lewiston, nursing a grudge that dated from their loss of the territorial capital to Boise in 1865, greeted news of their impending return to Washington with brass bands and a community celebration. But they cut their revelry short four days later when they learned that President Grover Cleveland had pocket vetoed the bill because of protests by Gov. Stevenson. The most important presidential signature that never was so angered residents of the north that when the 1889 territorial legislature met, it responded by creating a public university and placing it in the Panhandle town of Moscow, a gesture specifically referred to as an “olive branch” of peace. John Warren Brigham and Willis Sweet wrote the act creating a university at Moscow. After Brigham introduced the measure known as Council Bill 20, it easily passed the Territorial Legislature, and Gov. Stevenson signed it into law on Jan. 30, 1889. Commonly known as the university’s charter, the act became part of the state constitution when Idaho was admitted to the Union in 1890. Willis Sweet and Henry Blake, the first president and secretary of the Board of Regents, received authorization to purchase land for the new university, but they had in hand only $15,000 to acquire the property, improve it, and develop plans for a building. After considering several offers, they purchased a 20-acre tract of hilly land from James Deakin, one of early Moscow’s largest landowners, for $4,000. In the fall of 1889, workers excavated a building site, but not until the summer of 1891 did the fledgling state provide them the funds necessary to begin actual construction. However, financial difficulties continued to plague the university, and it had to finish the building in piecemeal fashion. The entire Administration Building was not completed until 1899, 10 years after ground clearing began. • Students from the colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Engineering zeroed in on the tiny moringa seed as one component of an innovative solution to address clean water and water availability in Africa. The student teams are refining a process to create clean, safe drinking water and catchment systems for the nomadic Maasai tribes. The continental impact of the research could yield one solution to Africa’s clean water crisis. Five students conducted a field visit to Kenya where they tested more than a year’s worth of research and design focused on water filtration and storage. • The University of Idaho has opened the doors of its new Multicultural Student Center. In 2006, Idaho students approved a $2 fee to support diversity initiatives on campus. A multicultural student center on campus was identified as thr top priority for the funds. The center is located in the Teaching and Learning Center, adjacent to the Multicultural Affairs Office and in the center of campus. The center was designed by environmental studies student Hanna Persson. • The University of Idaho has taken another step in environmental leadership by joining the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the world’s first and North America’s only voluntary, legally binding multi-sector market for reducing and trading greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As part of this commitment, the university has committed to reduce its own emissions of greenhouse gases by six percent below the average of its 1998-2001 baseline by 2010. The University of Idaho is one of only six highereducation institutions that have joined CCX. • The University of Idaho’s contributions to the state include an unmatched legacy of elected public officials. The 2007 Idaho Legislature includes 24 Idaho alumni, including, Sen. Bart Davis ’81, Senate Majority Leader; Rep. Lawerence Denney ‘70, Speaker of the House; and Lt. Gov. James Risch ’65, ’68, Senate president. Ten other legislative Vandals serve as committee chairs and in House and Senate leadership positions. Their leadership, commitment and accomplishments exemplify what we mean when we talk about the “value” of a degree from Idaho. www.GoVandals.com 65
Idaho Women’s Basketball 2008-09 The university of idaho a brief history (Cont.) On Oct. 3, 1892, the University of Idaho opened its doors. On that day, President Franklin B. Gault welcomed about 40 students and one professor, John Edwin Ostrander. Since most of the students who entered in 1892 were at the preparatory level, the first graduating class in 1896 numbered only four (two men and two women). The Administration Building fire of 1906 proved to be a turning point in the university’s history. To many it appeared that the struggling school would slide toward retrenchment: it would cease growing and might even lose its long struggle for survival. But just the opposite happened. President James Alexander MacLean turned to the Boise architect John Tourtellotte, who had designed the state’s Roman Revival capitol and many other public and private buildings. Tourtellotte’s Tudor Gothic structure rose from the ashes of the old Administration Building to form what remains the centerpiece of the campus. Modeled on England’s venerable Hampton Court Palace, it seems to symbolize the University of Idaho’s growth and maturity as a major institution of higher education. And so does too the campus. Where in nature’s scheme there should be a field of bunchgrass typical of the original Palouse prairie, there is instead a tree-shaded common. The look of small-town New England exists here in Idaho because in 1908 the nation’s premier landscape architects, the Olmsted Brothers of Massachusetts, designed a master plan for Idaho’s university, creating a new campus to complement the new Administration Building. This firm, whose founding father, Frederick Law Olmsted, had earlier designed New York’s Central Park, had as its apparent goal to give a campus less than two decades beyond the raw frontier the instant cache that comes from identification with New England’s time-honored landscapes and their ability to symbolize historical standing and refinement. Today, the University of Idaho emphasizes its commitment to higher education by providing a variety of programs from a vast array of disciplines to more than 12,000 students from all states and 78 foreign countries. Strong undergraduate programs are coupled with internationally recognized research and scholarly achievements. Since its founding, the University of Idaho has granted approximately 80,000 degrees. Carlos Schwantes is a former Idaho professor of history. He has written numerous books about the history of Idaho, the Pacific Northwest and railroads, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his work. • University of Idaho was named a “Publisher’s Picks 2006” by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. The designation recognizes Idaho as a university that offers Hispanic students a solid chance of academic success. • Idaho plant breeder Jack Brown and Gibraltar-based Eco-Energy Ltd. announced a research project to develop high-value oilseed crops worldwide for alternative fuel production. The agreement brings $2 million in research funding to the University during the next five years.Brown and his research team will develop new high oil yield varieties tailored to adapt to worldwide climatic and environmental conditions. The oil produced from these crops will have specific characteristics suitable for making the highest quality biofuel. • Sarah Heath Palin ’87 has been elected governor of Alaska. She will be the first woman to serve as Alaska’s governor. Palin earned a journalism degree from Idaho, and worked in media and the utilities industry before beginning her public service. She was elected to two terms on the Wasilla City Council, and then served two terms as the mayor/manager of Alaska’s fastest growing community. • The ranks of Idaho alumni include the voice of Starfish on Sponge Bob Squarepants, four U.S Senators, three governors, Deep Throat, the current director of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service, an astronaut, CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, an Olympic gold-medal winner, the Secretary of the Interior, a Pulitzer Prize winner and an Emmy award winner. 66 www.GoVandals.com
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Media Information - University of Idaho Athletics

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