The Founding Grant
November 11, 1885
We, Leland Stanford and Jane Lathrop Stanford, husband and wife, grantors, desiring to promote the public welfare by founding, endowing, and having maintained upon our estate known as the Palo Alto Farm, and situated in the Counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara, State of California, United States of America, a University for both sexes, with the Colleges, Schools, Seminaries of Learning, Mechanical Institutes, Museums, Galleries of Art, and all other things necessary and appropriate to a University of high degree, do hereby grant, bargain, sell, and convey … unto the Trustees … all and singular, the following described property:
To have and to hold said property … upon the trust that it shall constitute the foundation and endowment for the University herein provided, and upon the trust that the principal thereof shall forever remain intact, and that the rents, issues, and profits thereof shall be devoted to the foundation and maintenance of the University hereby founded and endowed, and to the uses and purposes herein mentioned.
First — the Nature, Object, and Purposes of the Institution
Its nature, that of a university with such seminaries of learning as shall make it of the highest grade, including mechanical institutes, museums, galleries of art, laboratories, and conservatories, together with all things necessary for the study of agriculture in all its branches, and for mechanical training, and the studies and exercises directed to the cultivation and enlargement of the mind:
Its object, to qualify its students for personal success, and direct usefulness in life;
And its purposes, to promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization, teaching the blessings of liberty regulated by law, and inculcating love and reverence for the great principles of government as derived from the inalienable rights of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Second — the Name of the Institution
Since the idea of establishing an institution of this kind for the benefit of mankind came directly and largely from our son and only child Leland … we will that for all time to come the institution hereby founded shall bear his name, and shall be known as THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY.
Third — the Number, Quorum, and Designation of the Trustees
The number of the Trustees shall be twenty-four, and fifteen thereof shall constitute a quorum … The Trustees herein named and their successors, in their collective capacity, shall be known and designated as “The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.”
Fourth — the Duties of the Board of Trustees
That the Trustees … shall have power, and it shall be their duty:
2. To manage and control the institution hereby founded.
9. To appoint a President of the University, who shall not be one of their number, and to remove him at will.
11. To fix the salaries of the President, professors, and teachers, and to fix them at such rates as will secure to the University the services of men of the very highest attainment.
13. To establish and maintain at such University an educational system which will, if followed, fit the graduate for some useful pursuit, and to this end to cause the pupils, as early as may be, to declare the particular calling in life they may desire to pursue; but such declaration shall not be binding if, in the judgment of the President of the University, the student is not by nature fitted for the pursuit declared.
15. To have taught in the University the right and advantages of association and cooperation.
16. To afford equal facilities and give equal advantages in the University to both the sexes.
18. To do and perform all things hereinafter provided for, and all things necessary to the proper exercise and discharge of their trust.
Fifth — the Powers and Duties of the President of the University
It shall be the duty of the Trustees to give to the President of the University the following powers: to prescribe the duties of the professors and teachers; to prescribe and enforce the course of study and the mode and manner of teaching; and such other powers as will enable him to control the educational part of the University to such an extent that he may justly be held responsible for the course of study therein and for the good conduct and capacity of the professors and teachers.
Sixth — the Faculty
The Trustees shall constitute the President and professors the faculty of the University, and prescribe their powers and duties as such.
Seventh — the Manner, and to Whom, the Trustees Shall Report
The Board of Trustees shall annually report all their proceedings to the person who for the time being shall fill the office of Governor of the State of California, and shall accompany such report with a full account of their financial operations for the preceding year.
Eighth — the Mode by Which the Successors to the Trustees Are to Be Appointed
Any Trustee named in this Grant, or the successor to any such Trustee, may for good cause be removed by a proper court of equity jurisdiction … and every vacancy occurring thereafter shall be filled by the surviving or remaining Trustees by ballot.
Ninth — the Buildings Necessary and Proper for the Institution
Within two years from the date hereof, [the Trustees shall] select and lay off on the Palo Alto Farm a site, and adopt a general plan for the construction of the University buildings … the Trustees bearing in mind that extensive and expensive buildings do not make a University; that it depends for its success rather upon the character and attainments of its Faculty.
Tenth — the Scholarships and Other Matters Connected Therewith
The Trustees shall have power, and it shall be their duty: To establish and maintain in connection with the University such a number of free scholarships as the endowment of the Institution, considering all its objects, will justify … given either to those who, by good conduct and study, have earned the right thereto, or to the deserving children of those who, dying without means in the service of the State, or in the cause of humanity, have a special claim upon the good will of mankind.
To establish and have given at the University, by its ablest professors, courses of lectures upon the Science of Government … and upon Law, Medicine, Mechanics, and the other Arts, and Sciences, which shall be free to the postgraduates of the Colleges of the University … and to all deserving persons, to the full capacity of the lecture-rooms.
Eleventh — Election of the Grantors to Control the Property During Their Lives
The grantors … elect … to perform during their lives all the duties and exercise all the powers and privileges … and that upon the death of both grantors then all such duties shall devolve upon and all such powers and privileges shall be exercised by the Trustees named in this Grant, and by their successors forever.
Twelfth — Reservation of the Right to Alter, Amend, or Modify the Grant
The grantors hereby reserve to themselves during their lives … the right to alter, amend, or modify the terms and conditions of this Grant, and the trusts therein created, in respect to the nature, object, and purposes of the Institution founded, the powers and duties of the Trustees … and the character and extent of the buildings which shall be erected.
Thirteenth — Reservation of Other Rights
The grantors hereby reserve … the right to absolute dominion over the personal property and the rents, issues, and profits of the real property hereby granted; and the right to improve, manage, and control the trust property, as if this Grant had not been made; but this reservation does not include the right or power to sell or encumber any of the real property granted.
Fourteenth — the Custody of the Persons of Minors
The Trustees named in this Grant, and their successors, may, in the name of the Institution, become the custodian of the persons of minors … in accordance with the provisions of Sections 264 to 276, inclusive, of the Civil Code of the State of California.
Fifteenth — Limitations upon the Powers of the Trustees
1. Neither the Trustees herein named, nor their successors, shall have power to sell or convey the real property hereinbefore described and granted.
2. The Trustees herein named, and their successors, shall serve without compensation.
Sixteenth — Miscellaneous
1. That all the property hereby conveyed was acquired by them during coverture, and was … their community property, and for that reason, and because of their mutual desire to be associated in this undertaking, they … have joined in this conveyance.
2. This Grant, and all grants and devises hereafter made by the grantors or either of them for endowing and maintaining the Institution hereby founded, shall be liberally construed, and always with a view to effect the objects and promote the purposes of the grantors, as herein expressed.
Reproduced from the sixteen designations of the Founding Grant. The complete document — with amendments, legislation, and court decrees — runs to eighty-eight pages and is published by Stanford University.
