re: Could the State of Louisiana set up LSU like the State of Texas has UT?

quote:

---

They bought land 200 years ago for expansion purposes and there happened to be oil underneath.

---

Correction:

The State of Texas retained all of its public lands upon entering the Union in 1846, 2 million of which were set aside to benefit The University of Texas by the current state constitution adopted in 1876 (the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas -- today's aggy -- is considered a constitutional branch of The University of Texas).

The land was meant to graze cattle and perhaps be sold piecemeal, much like land-grant colleges were funded by the federal government. The West Texas land was considered to have relatively little value.

That changed when oil was found in 1929 in what's called the Permian Basin. A&M, which previously didn't want anything to do with the land and from which they received no proceeds, pissed and moaned to the state legislature (surprise, surprise) to get 1/3 of the endowment proceeds that were now fueled by oil royalties (but not the land, the title of which is still held by The University of Texas).

The proceeds were expanded in 1984 to include other (but not all) UT and A&M system schools and departments.

However, UT Austin gets most of the yearly payouts, by far. And why shouldn't we? We're The University of Texas.