Certificates to Degrees

The State laws which had formed the University had actually only granted it the authority to issue certificates of completion, not diplomas or degrees. [1] In 1877, the students of the classes of 1872 through 1877 wrote a letter to the State Legislature noting that while "the founders of the University wished to depart from the usual custom of conferring degrees for the very good reason that they do not in themselves represent real worth - often being conferred when not deservedly earned", this had harmed in the University in that "many persons have refused to enter the University because they could not graduate with the honors of a degree, and not a few have left [their] classes to take their Senior year in colleges conferring degrees". They also wrote that "we do not claim any real value in a degree, but the world is educated to look upon this as the sign of having completed a course of study, and likewise expects of college graduates that they come out with the proper degree". [2] The State General Assembly finally bowed to pressure from the University later that year and gave it the authority to grant diplomas and degrees like other institutions of its caliber. [3]