increasingly important issue for america. the draw down of the reservoir, the runoff of nitrogen fertilizers into our waterways with where the wastes issues of industrialized animal agriculture, environmental concerns raised the very important question of the sustainability of modern american agriculture. and the changing climate conditions driven by global warming may be beginning to effect land use patterns. as we speak, cattle from drought-stricken texas have been trucked to the northern plains to be pastured on the grasses of the dakotas. our speaker last night referred to this. i think jerrod diamond who wrote "collapse" and other books would find this rather interesting. agriculture is changing the environment and the environment is changing agriculture. land grant universities have

played a role in this change, and i believe must continue to play a role in understanding and amiillerating them. morill and his colleagues. his understainstitutions contin provide the vast majority of extension and agriculture, veterinary medicine, and related fields, but the relative emphasis on agriculture and rural america within these universities is much diminished. enrollments in these disciplines typically below 10% of the total university enrollment. the arts and sciences, engineering, business now dominate the especially rolement of land grant universities. the experiment station model of applied research with few exceptions, for example, texas a&m's engineering experiment

station, that experiment station model simply has not been adopted by the other disciplines of the modern research university. and federal funding for research and agriculture is not matched remarkable growth since world war ii of the national science foundation and national institutes of health and the department of defense. agricultural research, land grant universities, is not a priority for 21st century america. may not even be a priority of the agricultural interests of america. such as the reward for the bounty of food that this research has generated. in addition to federal formula funding, much of agricultural research and entitlement approach is quite at odds with the competitive grants approach advocated by nsf, nih, dod, as well as by the vast majority of

most prestigious universities in america. ironically, the shifting of the life sciences research away from the department of agricultural, nsf and nih, has dramatically reduced the capacity that the department of agriculture has influence on america. while many universities, public and private, have i'm brasz braced an aggressive model in universities, ag extension often remains separate and a part from these broader efforts. competition from the private sector, federal funding, along with what i see as a rather ancillary view of needs of agriculture in rural communities has made extension a shrinking enterprise for most of the land grant universities. this is occurring at a time when agriculture and rural communities have needs that are quite substantial and well beyond the traditional capacity

of the extension. poverty, the digital revolution, immigration, economic diversification, are just a few examples to change circumstances in these rural communities find themselves in. rural america is no longer synonymous with agriculture and universities that want to engage rural america that wish to bring their capacities need to bring all their capacities to rural america in their engagement efforts. the land grant commitment to access for industrial classes is no longer theirs alone. it is shared with community colleges, proprietary schools, increasingly the internet. roughly 18% of enrollment of u.s. higher education, land grant university simply cannot claim the working classes as their exclusive constituents, and at a minimum, land grants

must reconceptionalize the concept of more diverse system of higher education. finally, for those who are in administration, arguably the most important problem, the land grant funding model is a part fer in ship between the federal, state, and local governments with new orleans little or no tuition, is irretrievably broken. federal and state governments have constrained financial capacity. and in the case of the states, difficuminished appetite to fun higher education. there's been a shift from a belief that the nation as a whole benefits from higher education to a belief that it's the people receiving the education primarily benefit, and so they should foot the bill. tuition has increased over the past two decades to compensate and as a result has now become a

politically charged issue. it's even on the agenda of our president. even large tuition increases have not fully offset the state cuts. classes are getting bigger. tenured faculty members are replaced withed a jurchts and expensive technical courses are being sacrificed. i believe this pattern that that's an evl voling over the past two decades, cannot and will not continue. while private fund raidsing for higher education is more important than ever, private fund-raising cannot make up for the shrinking government funding of public universities. the dominance created by the original land grants today make a trivial, almost contribution. the progressive political consensus that created a sustained public land grant

universities for a century and a half, i believe, is gone. central question to be answered is, these institutions remain a public good or have they become merely a private benefit? this is perhaps the greatest challenge to face morill's vision for our time. who are we who care about our nation and higher education, i suspect for most of you like me, have devoted your professional career to it, going to do? i for one cannot envision an attractive future for our nation and our children if we do not rethink and reconceptionalize our public universities in a way that better responds to the need of today's america and tomorrow's america and recaptures the spirit of public benefit that is energized these land grants for now a century

and a half. the original land grant vision built around agriculture and rural america, i believe, is too limited sbel lekts chully, politically unsustainable, and not fully responsive to society's needs today. this is in spite of the fact that agriculture and rural america needs a broader capacity to prosper. and a vision for these universities built around an exclusive franchise for access to the working classes cannot be retrieved. it is financially not viable. with 3.6 out of a total enrollment of 20 million in u.s. higher education, the land grant universities must come to see access as a shared priority, shared with community colleges, shared with vocational institutions, shared with private colleges and universities, and shared with the modern on the internet.

our challenge is to reconceive our public mission, reconnect to our communities and states, and refinance our enterprise. we need to do today justin morill did in the 1860s and rebuild the public consensus on higher education.rill did in th rebuild the public consensus on higher education. i believe a shared vision built around greater access through higher education based on a marriage of practical liberal education and agenda, a basic in are search and an institutional engagement agenda emphasizing development in response of what our nation really needs today and tomorrow, it's consistent with our history and our cultures and has a chance of igniting higher education being financed. so what might a 21st century morrill act look like?

first, it must be grounded in a clearer understanding of the needs of the 21st century america. those needs include, at a minimum, better educated population. it must include a cost structure for students real istically making a cemak making a cess attainable for everyone, everyone, regard of the income. responsive of the needs of various states supports the development of higher income economy in each state and an engagement train struinfrastruc ensures the capacities of these institutions are readily, easily available to the citizens of the state and its communities. second, to ensure the essential connectiveness of these institutions to the various states and their needs, funding of a 21st century morrill act should be shared by the federal

government and states. third, participation in a 21st century morrill act would be open to every state and every accredited institution of higher education that was prepared to embrace the agenda. fourth, and finally, we must persuasively make the case based on careful, credible, analysis and research that public investments in higher education benefit communities, benefit our states, benefit our nation, even more than it benefits the individuals who receive the degrees. there are studies already that are showing education populous leads not only to faster economic growth but more stable democracies and it benefits the poorest people the most. competing successfully in today's global economy, i believe requires a nimble

capacity for innovation and problem solving at the state level that has its roots in robust research infrastructure that only higher education can provide. and it is, after all, at the state level that the promise of a more effective and efficient institutional collaboration in research can be realized. the goals of a 21st century morrill act would begin with universal access of first two years of post secondary education for all u.s. high school graduates. this would be achieved by offering each graduate a two-year grant, not a loan, that would cover the typical cost of attendance at a community college, including tuition, supplies, books, and transportation. currently this amounts to about $5,000 annually on average so that with 3 million high school graduates each year, it would cost the nation $30 billion

annually. i believe the participating institutions should pledge to contain tuition increases to more than changes in cpi, consumer price index, over the first decade of the program to ensure cost containment for students. renewal of this student grant program every decade will allow for resetting of the institutional obligation regarding cost. this $30 billion estimate, by the way, is undoubtedly high because it does not include reallocations from existing financial aid programs such as pell grant programs and the various programs in the different states. second, a $10 billion per year state-based research program that would be launched as a partnership between the federal government and the participating states. these funds would be used by states to support basic and applied research that meets each

state's needs and aspirations, including but not restricted to research fostering economic development and job creation. all institutions of higher education would be eligible to compete for this research funding. such a research program would ensure that our nation as a whole not only supports research to meet national needs, such as defense, human health, but would support research that meets individual state needs such as economic development which are actually quite varied across the different states. having such a capacity for innovation and problem soling in each of our states, i believe we would be quite powerful and very catalytic. indeed, my view in the 2 1es century, such a capacity may be a necessity. and third, making certain that these enhanced capacities for

learning and discovery are effectively available to be utilized by communities and their citizens would be assured by the creation of a $5 billion engagement initiative. funded jointly by the federal and state governments with allocations by the state based on population and distribution to the various institutions within each state decided by appropriate state agencies. all institutions of higher education would be eligible for participation. if you add up these three numbers, the cost of a 21st century morrill act would be about $45 billion shared equally between the federal government and states president not including savings from reallocation which i actually think would be substantial. interesting interestingly that cost is almost identical to the expenditure of the 1862 act if you adjust it for inflation, population, and college appointments.

it only represents .7 of 1% of government spending. surely in the 21st century we can make the commitment to higher education on the same scale as our predecessors in the civil war ravaged 1860s. the lessons of the first morrill act and its descendents made clear that such investments in the human intellectual and social capital of our nation paid very, very rich dividends. the first morrill act, the gi bill, the advent of the community college, are among america's greatest achievements. i believe our nation today is at a time where these lessons of the past must be relearned for the future and the commitment to our public purposes and learning renewed. the challenges less the cost,

it's more our national priorities. the challenge is one of boldness, leadership, and our commitment to higher education as a tool of progress for our democracy. is there among us a leader of justin smith morrill's ability and vision? at this 150-year anniversary of this crowning legislative achievement, the need for such leadership and vision may well be the ultimate challenge for higher education in our nation. thank you all. >> thank you very much, doctor

for that wonderful talk. we have a little present for you, which is our box of pins from this sim pose yuchl. one from each of the four pieces of legislation, one for the u.s. thank you. >> thank you. >> this year, c-span's local content is traveling the country, exploring american history. next, a look at our recent visit to wichita, kansas. you're watching "american history tv," all weekend every weekend, on c-span3. we're flying over downtown wichita. the air capital of the world.

>> there's just a general excitement about aviation, something new and the feeling that there was going to take us to higher places, is that fair to say? we are at the kansas aviation museum in wichita, kansas. our mission is to preserve and present kansas aviation heritage with a real focus on rich a aviation heritage. you look at the history of aviation from basically the wright brothers moving forward to today. about 70% of all general aviation aircraft has been constructed in wichita. that's a huge number when you think about the msa or the population of wichita being about half a million, compared to other cities of similar size and to say that historically any city has 70% of the market share in any one industry is pretty significant. that number is still about 40%, 45 % annually. people who wanted to build planes in the late teens and early '20s came here seeking venture capital.

it's why i've come to call wichita the silicon valley of aviation in the same way the people of the '80s and '90s and even today migrate to silicon valley to seek here to planes like collide cessna and walter beech and lloyd steernum actually came here because there was lots of oil money. one of the largest oil fields in america is just to the northeast of here. the eldorado oil field. so there were lots of people with huge amounts of money as a result of oil. the people who wanted to build planes came here seeking that capital. this is a really unique building. it was the original wichita air terminal from 1934 to 1954. it's one of only 12 buildings like this built during the first round of air terminal construction that still exists. it's the only one built in what's known as the indian art

deco style that exists anywhere in the country. at that time in the mid-'20s when local officials started beginning to think about a grand air terminal, charles lindbergh was traveling the country and he came to wichita with the idea it would be on the major way between los angeles and new york and he worked with local official l.w. clapp. together he and lindbergh went all over the area looking for an appropriate site, and they finally settled upon this one. it is the highest point in wichita, and it is one of the reasons they picked it. but also the particular type of grass they grew here had a very tight weave, if you will, and it made for a good landing strip, and the first six or seven years, this air terminal was in business, it had no runway. it just simply out in the field had a big circle of white rock and an air sock and pilots would fly over and determine the wind direction and then land into the wind in the grass. and then roll up to the terminal. because of air travel at that time, and this was a major route between new york and los

angeles, this was the fourth busiest airport in the country for about 20 years, and also because of air travel and the fact that people department use private planes in the way they do now, just about any famous person you can think of from the '30s and '40s passed through this airport. we have photographs of famous actors who were here at the -- at the airport. fred astaire -- a true story corroborated by someone at the airport at that time, fred astaire actually did a tap routine out in the atrium during a weather delay for the other waiting passengers. so a lot of really kind of neat stories about famous people that passed through this building. this is our ramp area, and this is where the majority of our planes are showcased. the area where we are right now is an area where people would come and they would throw their blankets out. right over here you can see the line of the concrete. the ground level was actually there, and there were stairs

coming down off of this terrace. over here to the left where these picnic tables are there was a little kind of a building there, and they would sell hot dogs and hamburgers things like that and people would come out, throw their blankets out and have their lunch and watch the planes come in. a plane would roll up, and folks would disembark and go up into the building, but the folks out here would just walk out and stand around the plane as it was being refueled. there were no fences at that time, and obviously, much less security. it was a totally different environment. the focus of our collection is kansas aviation heritage. so if the plane was built here or flown here, then we're going to be interested in it, and we have a number of planes here from 1920 swallow through more modern-era planes, and the collection is primarily the result of two sources. either individuals who have donated their personal planes to the museum, or corporations that have donated planes in the museum.

there's one other category. we do have five planes out on the ramp that were -- are on loan from the u.s. air force museum in dayton, ohio. this is a 1920 laird swallow. this is a very important plane in wichita aviation heritage. it's the first production aircraft in wichita. so there were 43 of these built between 1920 and 1923, and it's the first time in wichita and very early in aviation heritage where people recognized, hey, if we build more of these, the economy of scale, we can sell them to a wider audience for less money. this is the only 1920 laird swallow that exists. there weren't any, and this particular one is a replica, and if you look right here, our volunteers started with about 10

or 15 of these brackets, and these are original brackets, and they used those to scale photographs, and from the photographs, took hundreds of measurements and with the measurements created the working drawings and then built the plane from those drawings. and so this is very representative of the amazing skill of our volunteers here at the museum. what i wanted you to see over here is where the pilot would have sat in this basket, if you can see it through the mylar. we stretch this mylar on here so people could see it, the internal of the plane. but also, i don't know whether you can get a shot of that, but the control stick is actually a baseball bat. >> is that what would have been originally used? >> yes. if you think about the development of aviation technology from 1920 when this plane was built through the end of world war ii, you went from this plane, which had an ox 5 engine that produced 90 horsepower, flew at about 120 miles per hour. 1920 to 1945, the beginning of the jet age. the most intense period of development of aviation

technology, and so what was happening here in wichita was some 80 companies building planes and plane parts is the experimentation that led to the jet age. the golden age of aviation. now, the plane that we're seeing in front of us is a learjet 23. and it was the first learjet ever built, the first model. it was actually the sixth one ever built. this was actually bill lear's personal plane. this plane doesn't seem very unusual now, but back then, this was cutting edge. i mean learjet set the standard for what we know today as the business jet, the corporate jet. this is where it all started right here. this is model 73 steerman. it was actually in a military --

navy military plane known as the ns-1, and this was -- it's a very iconic plane. there was an army version of this plane that had a blue fuselage and yellow wings. this was flown by navy aviators during world war ii as a trainer. so just about any naval aviator that flew in world war ii would have trained in this plane at some point in his career. and it's interesting because it's a steerman, but at that point in time, boeing actually owns the steerman brand. so this is an early boeing plane, but this is where it all started with a plane just like this. >> what is boeing's legacy here in wichita? >> well, they have a huge legacy here. i mean alt their height during world war ii, they were employing 40,000 people. they built whole neighborhoods, like plainview, that's just a mile or so from here and they built those specifically for their workers. so they have a huge legacy here. they've been a supporter of the community for years and years. sad that they're leaving, but you know, we've had a good run with the company.

>> whenever there's a downturn in the economy like there has been recently in 2009 and moving forward, some 10,000 or 12,000 people laid off and the unemployment ranks go up, so it becomes very challenging. the thing that people in this community understand is -- because they've lived through it, through lots of those cycles of the ups and downs of the economy is they understand that that's going to happen. i'm not saying it doesn't hurt, but they know that that's going to happen, and i think people here prepare for it in terms of the psychology of it, and they know that sooner or later the economy will turn around and they'll get rehired. people recognize that's going to happen in this community. people do just have a love fair with -- especially americans, i think, have a love

affair with aviation. i think it's just the idea that -- that there's another dimension. you know, there's a third dimension that we can experience outside of the two dimensions that we can walk this way and that. we can also go up. find out where c sman's local kon ternlts vehicles are going next online at c-span.org/localcontext. you're watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. this weekend harvard professor john stauffer on the movement of slavery. >> it's one o the aspects of ablutionists. they're still a minority, tiny minority. what transforms abolitionists