Not Granted

To the Editors:

Although it may not change the thrust of his article to any significant extent, Andrew Hacker is incorrect in referring to Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, and the University of Alabama as land-grant institutions (“Who Should Go to College?” NYR, May 11). Established under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862, Michigan’s landgrant institution is Michigan State University (East Lansing); North Carolina has two, North Carolina State University (Raleigh) and North Carolina A&T (Greensboro); and Alabama has two, Auburn (Auburn) and Alabama A&M (Normal). Hacker seems to be equating land-grant institutions with state universities. In fact, with the exception of Cornell and MIT, all the land-grant universities are public, but not all public universities are land-grant institutions.

Jay A. Hurwitz
Kirkland, Washington

Andrew Hacker replies:

Mr. Hurwitz is absolutely right about Michigan and Alabama, and I appreciate his corrections. In fact, North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus was made the state’s land-grant institution after the close of the Civil War. That status was transferred to North Carolina State in Raleigh, upon its founding in 1887. And four years later, the designation was shared with North Carolina A&T, a new all-black institution.