Et Docere et Rerum Exquirere Causas: Exploring the University of Georgia's Enduring Motto
The University of Georgia (UGA), a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, stands as a beacon of higher education in the United States. As the first state-chartered university in America, UGA has a rich history interwoven with the development of both the state of Georgia and the nation. Its motto, "Et docere et rerum exquirere causas," encapsulates the institution's dedication to education, service, and the pursuit of knowledge. This article delves into the history of the University of Georgia, its motto, and the values it represents.
The Genesis of a University: From Charter to Campus
The seeds of the University of Georgia were sown in 1784 when Lyman Hall, then Governor of Georgia and a graduate of Yale University, advocated for the establishment of a "college or seminary of learning." His efforts led the Georgia legislature to allocate 40,000 acres of land as an endowment for this purpose. Alongside Hall, Abraham Baldwin, an alumnus and former instructor at Yale, played a crucial role in shaping the university's foundation, authoring its original charter.
On January 27, 1785, the Georgia General Assembly formally approved Baldwin's charter, marking the birth of the University of Georgia. This act distinguished UGA as the first university in the United States to receive a state charter. Baldwin, later a Founding Father, represented Georgia at the 1786 Constitutional Convention and served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
The responsibility of establishing the university fell to the Senatus Academicus, comprising the Board of Visitors and the Board of Trustees. The first meeting of the university's board of trustees occurred on February 13, 1786, in Augusta, Georgia. However, the University of Georgia remained an idea on paper for the subsequent 16 years.
At the dawn of the new century, a committee was tasked with finding a suitable location for the campus. John Milledge, a committee member, acquired 633 acres of land on the west bank of the Oconee River and promptly donated it to the university. Following Baldwin's departure to serve in the U.S. Senate, Josiah Meigs, his former student and fellow Yale professor, was chosen as his successor.
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In the fall of 1801, Meigs assumed the role of president and sole professor, opening the school without a physical building. A year later, the first school building, modeled after Yale's Connecticut Hall, was constructed. The early influence of Yale extended to the classical curriculum, which emphasized Latin and Greek. By 1803, students had formed the Demosthenian Literary Society, a debate organization. In 1804, Meigs oversaw the graduation of the first class, consisting of nine students. The school dedicated its first legacy building, Franklin College (named after Benjamin Franklin), in 1806.
Evolution and Growth: From Franklin College to a Comprehensive University
After the tenures of John Brown (1811-1816) and Robert Finley (1817), which saw a decline in enrollment, Presidents Moses Waddel (1819-1829) and Alonzo Church (1829-1859) worked to attract new students. By 1859, enrollment had increased to 100 students, the university employed eight faculty members, and a new law school had opened. During this period, the New College building and the Chapel were constructed in 1832. Church holds the distinction of being the longest-serving president in UGA history. In 1859, the state legislature eliminated the Senatus Academicus, leaving the board of trustees as the sole governing body. Upon Church's retirement, Andrew A. Lipscomb took over as president.
The University of Georgia closed in September 1863 due to the Civil War. It reopened in January 1866 with approximately 80 students, including veterans who received $300 from the General Assembly under the condition that they would remain in Georgia as teachers after graduation. Additional funding was secured through the 1862 Morrill Act, which facilitated the creation of land-grant colleges nationwide. In 1872, the $243,000 federal allotment to Georgia was invested to generate a $16,000 annual income, which was used to establish the Georgia State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (A&M), initially separate from the University of Georgia.
The late 1800s saw the emergence of several extracurricular organizations at the university. In 1886, fraternities at UGA began publishing the school's yearbook, the Pandora. That same year, the university established its first intercollegiate sport with the formation of a baseball team, followed by a football team in 1892. Both teams played in a small field west of campus, now known as Herty Field.
The turn of the century brought significant changes in the administration and organization of the university, including the appointment of a new chancellor in 1899. Walter B. Hill became the first UGA alumnus to lead the university. His progressive leadership, marked by increased enrollment, expanded course offerings, and state funding, raised the university's annual income to over $100,000 in 1902. Hill and his successors, David C. Barrow (1906-1925), Charles Snelling (1926-1932), and Steadman Sanford (1932-1935), transformed the school into a comprehensive university.
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Many of the university's schools and colleges were established during Barrow's tenure, including the College of Education (1908), the Graduate School (1910), the School of Commerce (1912), the School of Journalism (1915), and the Division of Home Economics (1918). In 1906, UGA incorporated the College of Agriculture by bringing together A&M courses. The college of science and engineering continued as it had been formed in the previous century. Conner Hall became the first building built in South Campus and the first of several buildings that housed the university's agriculture programs on what came to be known as "Ag Hill."
Embracing Diversity and Progress
For the first century of its existence, the University of Georgia limited enrollment to white males. However, in the summer of 1903, white female students were admitted as postgraduate students to the State Normal School, which had been established in 1893 a few miles west of the campus. When the University of Georgia established a graduate school in 1910, female students were permitted to attend summer classes, and some were unofficially allowed to attend regular classes as well. At that time, only junior college transfers majoring in Home Economics were integrated into regular courses. Before the official admission of women to the university, several women completed graduate degrees through credit earned during the summer sessions. Mary Dorothy Lyndon was the first white woman to earn such a degree, receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1914. Women were admitted as full-time undergraduates in 1918.
In 1932, the administrative structure of the university was reorganized with the establishment of the University System of Georgia (USG), which brought UGA and several other public colleges in the state under the control of a single board of regents. The State Normal School (later State Teachers College) was fully absorbed by the College of Education, with the former's previous campus becoming UGA's Coordinate Campus. UGA and Georgia Tech exchanged several school programs; all engineering programs (except agriculture) were transferred to Georgia Tech, and UGA received Georgia Tech's commerce program in return. The title of the university's lead administrator was changed from chancellor back to the original title of president. Sanford was named UGA's first president since 1860 and was succeeded by Harmon Caldwell (1935-1948).
Throughout this period, UGA's enrollment grew steadily, reaching 3,000 by 1937 and almost 4,000 by 1941. Through President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, UGA received a $2 million infusion of funding and an additional $1 million from the state legislature. The university used the new funds to make a number of improvements to the campus from 1936 to the early 1940s. Many renovation projects were undertaken, including the establishment of five new residence halls, a dining hall, eight new academic buildings, a nursery school, and several auxiliary facilities. Rudolph Driftmier, an engineering professor, and Roy Hitchcock, an architect, were responsible for the design of several buildings in the neoclassical style, giving the campus a homogeneous and distinctive appearance.
In 1941, Walter Cocking, the dean of the College of Education, was fired by Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge in a controversial decision known as the Cocking affair. Talmadge's decision was motivated by his belief that Cocking favored racial integration. The governor's interference in the workings of USG's board of regents prompted a response by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, which stripped UGA and nine other schools in the system of their accreditation. The issue became a major point of contention in Talmadge's 1942 re-election campaign.
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As the United States entered World War II, enrollment among male students dropped significantly, allowing female students to outnumber male students for the first time in the school's history. In 1945, UGA accepted a donation of about 100 paintings from the New York art collector Alfred Holbrook and created the Georgia Museum of Art. The following year, the quarterly literary journal The Georgia Review began publication in 1947. After Jonathan Rogers' brief tenure as president (1949-1950), Omer Clyde Aderhold began his 17-year-long stint as UGA president.
Overcoming Segregation and Embracing Progress
Until January 1961, Georgia state law mandated racial segregation in publicly funded higher education. On January 6, 1961, the District Court mandated that UGA immediately admit two African American teenagers, Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, who were previously denied admission in 1959 on the basis of race. This court order was quickly followed by an injunction preventing the enforcement of the segregation-mandating state law.
On January 11, a riot formed outside Charlayne Hunter's dormitory window, with people shouting racial insults and throwing firecrackers, bottles, and bricks at the window. Dean Williams suspended the two students for "their personal safety," but they returned to classes on January 16 following a court order. The university faculty subsequently formed a night patrol to help ensure the peace.
Holmes graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was the first African-American student to attend the Emory University School of Medicine, where he earned his MD in 1967. He later became a professor of orthopedics and associate dean at Emory, the medical director at Grady Memorial Hospital, and a trustee of the University of Georgia Foundation, the university's private fund-raising organization. Hunter (later, Hunter-Gault) graduated with a degree in journalism and was awarded two Emmys and a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of when Holmes and Hunter registered for classes on January 9, 1961, the university renamed the campus building where they registered as the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building.
In June 1961, Holmes and Hunter were joined by another African American, Mary Frances Early, who transferred to the school as a graduate student. Before Holmes and Hunter, Early became the first African American to graduate from UGA in 1962.
Modern Era: Growth, Research, and Service
In 1968, Fred Davison was appointed UGA president and served in the position for 19 years. During his tenure, the school's research budget increased from $15.6 million to more than $90 million. UGA inaugurated the School of Environmental Design, was designated as a Sea Grant College, and built 15 new buildings on campus. Henry King Stanford served as interim president before the appointment of Charles Knapp in 1987. Together with UGA alumnus and Georgia Governor Zell Miller, Knapp helped establish the state's HOPE Scholarship in 1993 with funds appropriated from the new state lottery. Knapp was also a founding member of the Georgia Research Alliance, and construction projects totaling more than $400 million were started during his administration, including the Biological Sciences Complex (1992), Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities (1995), the Performing Arts Center, Hodgson Hall (1996), the music building (1996), the Georgia Museum of Art (1996), Dean Rusk Hall (1996), and the UGA Welcome Center (1996).
In 1997, Michael F. Adams became the president of UGA. Adams began a strategic plan to grow the university's academic programs in the new century. In 2001, UGA inaugurated the College of Environment and Design and the School of Public and International Affairs, the first new schools to open since 1964. The strategic plan also chose medicine and health sciences as a major focus of growth and development. In 2012, UGA partnered with the U.S. Navy to create the UGA Health Sciences Campus. The Health Sciences Campus provides additional medical and health sciences programs, including the School of Medicine.
After Adams's retirement on June 30, 2013, Jere Morehead was appointed as UGA's 22nd president. Morehead is an alumnus of UGA's law school and previously served as provost and vice president of academic affairs. Under Morehead, UGA has continued its focus on teaching and research.
The Enduring Motto: "Et Docere et Rerum Exquirere Causas"
The University of Georgia's motto, "Et docere et rerum exquirere causas," is a Latin phrase that translates to "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." The motto reflects the university's core mission of providing a comprehensive education while fostering a spirit of intellectual curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. The phrase "To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal.
The motto is prominently displayed on the university's seal, which also features an arch with three columns and the words "Constitution," "Justice," "Wisdom," and "Moderation." This imagery reinforces the university's commitment to upholding these values in its educational and research endeavors.
UGA Today
The University of Georgia is a leading public higher education institution. As the birthplace of public higher education in America, the University of Georgia has inspired generations of entrepreneurs, researchers, and citizens to change the world since its founding in 1785. Driven by our land- and sea-grant mission, we are dedicated to serving every corner of the state of Georgia.
UGA's main campus is nestled on the border of downtown Athens, Georgia. Considered one of the best college towns in America, Athens showcases a vibrant culture of music, art, and food.
The University of Georgia offers a top-rated honors college, hands-on learning opportunities, and small class sizes to give our students their best chance of success, both on and beyond the campus. The University of Georgia leads interdisciplinary research initiatives in global health and medicine, education, agriculture, and more. We engage our students and faculty in research aimed at improving the world. With a focus on creating innovative solutions through our research, we have been a Top 5 university for new products to market for almost a decade.
UGA provides a world-class learning environment and opportunities for high-achieving students. With 28 Rhodes Scholars and 143 Fulbright scholars, we are one of the top public university producers of both student awards in the nation. Faculty at the University of Georgia are attaining some of the most prestigious and competitive awards on both a national and international level.
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