Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education

The history of higher education in the State of Oklahoma begins before the days of the Oklahoma Territory (which existed from 1890 to 1907) in Indian Territory, and were started either by Indian tribes or by religious organizations for the benefit of Indian tribes.

the agency's total FY 2017 appropriation of $2.427 billion, 77.1 percent ($1.870 billion) takes the form of state aid funding that goes directly to local school districts through a complex ... State appropriations (36 percent) and tuition and fees (48 percent) funded most spending for Oklahoma higher education in FY 2016. The first higher education institution in the territory is what is now Northeastern State University, which was founded on May 7, 1851 as the Cherokee National Female Seminary. On March 6, 1909, the State Legislature of Oklahoma passed an act providing for the creation and location of Northeastern State Normal School at Tahlequah, Oklahoma (Capital of the Cherokee Nation), and for the purchase form the Cherokee Tribal Government of the Cherokee Female Seminary.

St. Gregory's University was founded in 1875 as Sacred Heart Mission, founded in Atoka, Oklahoma (the oldest Catholic parish in Indian Territory) by the Benedictine monks. In 1876, the mission relocated near Konawa, Oklahoma and became an abbey. Sacred Heart College was founded with the permission of the Vatican in 1877 and later gained approval from the territorial government in 1883. The institution was moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma (near the capital of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation as well as the Seminole Nation) as the Catholic University of Oklahoma in 1910, and in 1922, the name was changed to St. Gregory's College.

Bacone College was founded in 1880 as the Indian University in Muskogee, Oklahoma (Capital of the Creek Nation) by Almon C. Bacone, and is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma. The college has strong historic ties to various tribal nations, including the Cherokee Nation and the Muscogee Creek Nation, as well as the American Baptist Churches of America.

What is now the University of Tulsa was founded in Muskogee as the Presbyterian School for Indian Girls in 1882. The institution was rechartered as the Henry Kendall College in 1894 under the auspices of the Presbyterian Women's Board of Home Missions. In 1907 the college moved to its current site in Tulsa, Oklahoma and became the University of Tulsa in 1920.

The first public universities in Oklahoma date back before Oklahoma's statehood in 1907. The first territorial legislature of Oklahoma Territory, in accordance with the Oklahoma Territory Organic Act, enacted laws creating three institutions of higher education in 1890. The United States Congress mandated that the Territory have access to three different types of colleges: a liberal arts and professional education college, an agriculture and mechanical arts college to meet the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862, and a normal school college

On December 19 of 1890, the first Governor of Oklahoma Territory George Washington Steele signed the bill that created the Oklahoma Territorial University at Norman (now the University of Oklahoma), the institution designated to provide the liberal arts and professional education, as the first university in Oklahoma. Six days later, on Christmas Day, 1890, Governor Steele signed the bills creating the Oklahoma Territorial Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater as a land grant institution (now Oklahoma State University) and the Oklahoma Territorial Normal School at Edmond (now University of Central Oklahoma) to provide training for public school teachers in the new territory.

The Territorial Normal School opened on November 1, 1891. Six weeks later, on December 14, Territorial A&M College opened. The Territorial University would not open until August 1892 with Dr. David Ross Boyd as the University's first president.

Later, the Territorial Legislature established four more higher education institutions: the Colored Agricultural and Normal University at Langston (now Langston University) and the Normal School for Teachers at Alva (now Northwestern Oklahoma State University) in 1897. and the Normal School for Teachers at Weatherford (now Southwestern Oklahoma State University) and the Oklahoma University Preparatory School at Tonkawa (now Northern Oklahoma College) in 1901.

As Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territories moved towards statehood as the State of Oklahoma, talks began to establish public higher education institutions in the former Indian Territory. The former Oklahoma Territory already had seven established public higher education institutions while there were no such public institutions in the Indian Territory. State leaders immediately set out to increase access to the new state's public higher education colleges and universities.

Under the leadership of the first Governor of Oklahoma, Charles N. Haskell, the first Oklahoma Legislature created two collegiate-level schools in the former Indian Territory: the Industrial Institute and College for Girls at Chickasha (now the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma) and the School of Mines and Metallurgy at Wilburton (now Eastern Oklahoma State College). The Legislature intended for the school at Wilburton to become the eastern duplicate of the now University of Oklahoma at Norman.

Within two years, nine more colleges had been established throughout the state. Although no more state institutions were created for nearly 50 years, the names, functions or governing structures of the public colleges and universities was in almost constant change.

As the number of institutions grew so did the competition for legislative funding. Combined with considerable political activity throughout institutional governance, many called for a state system to coordinate the various colleges and universities. In early statehood, university presidents (and faculty to a lesser degree) were viewed as political appointments; it would not be uncommon for a new crop of university presidents to be appointed each time a new governor took office.

As early as 1913, the second governor of Oklahoma, Lee Cruce, pleaded with the legislature for consolidation of institutional functions and the abolition of some of the smaller schools.

In 1929, Governor William J. Holloway recommended to that the legislature reduce the number of institutional governing bodies and called for a central coordinating agency. The Legislature passed a bill providing for a board to consist of the Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, two members to be appointed by the governor, and the presidents of five state institutions. The two gubernatorial appointees were never named and the ex-officio members never met.

Early in 1933, Governor William H. Murray, by executive order, created a nine-member committee to coordinate public higher education. Soon thereafter, the Legislature passed a bill the statutorily created a fifteen-member central board. Although Governor Murray signed the bill and appointed the board members, the board never received any legislative funding. Despite this, the board still met and adopted a set of guiding principles for the coordinating work of the board. However, by the time Governor Murray left office, the terms of all the board members ended. Governor E.W. Marland, Murry's successor, left the positions until and never made any new appointments during his four-year term of office.

In 1939, new Governor Leon C. Phillips named new members and the coordinating board resumed operations. The board recommended that the board be given constitutional authority to ensure it would continue to function. Working off the board's recommendation, the 1941 Legislature proposed an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution establishing Article XIII-A. Following legislative approval of the proposed amendment, a special election was held on March 11, 1941, at which the amendment was adopted. The amendment created the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education as the system's governing body.

To maintain academic independence from state politics, the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education was created in 1941 through constitutional amendment (Article XIII-A), governed by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. The State Regents prescribe academic standards of all higher education in the state (for both public and private institutions). The State Regents also determine functions and courses of study at public colleges and universities, grant degrees, and recommend proposed fees within limits set by the Legislature. In general, the State Regents receive a single higher education appropriation from the legislature and have the constitutional responsibility to allocate those budget items to each Governing Board of Regents or Board of Trustees of a constituent agency. Additional constituent agencies of the State System of Higher Education include:

• Quartz Mountain Resort Arts and Conference Center
• Oklahoma Student Loan Authority and Oklahoma Higher Learning Access trust Funds
• George Nigh Rehabilitation Institute - Okmulgee
• OneNet (in cooperation with the Oklahoma Office of State Finance) Oklahoma state government's telecommunication and information network

While the State Regents are the coordinating board of control for all higher education institutions in the State, governing boards of regents and boards of trustees are responsible for the operation and management of each State System institution or higher education program in Title 70 of Oklahoma Statutes.

Additionally, the Oklahoma Constitution establishes three Governing Boards of Regents to provide governance various institutions of higher education.