Overview
1870–1899 Foundational era
The proposal of a manufacturing and agriculture university in central Ohio was initially met in the 1870s with hostility from the state’s agricultural interests, and with competition for resources from Ohio University, which was chartered by the Northwest Ordinance and Miami University. Championed by the Republican governor Rutherford B. Hayes, the Ohio State University was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university under the Morrill Act of 1862 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College.
The university opened its doors to 24 students on September 17, 1873. In 1878, the first class of six men graduated. The first woman graduated the following year. Also in 1878, the Ohio legislature recognized an expanded scope for the university by changing its name to “the Ohio State University.”
1900–1980 Middle era
In 1906, Ohio State segregationist president William Oxley Thompson, along with the university’s supporters in the state legislature, put forth the Lybarger Bill with the aim of shifting virtually all higher education support to the continued development of Ohio State while funding only the “normal school” functions of the state’s other public universities. Although the Lybarger Bill failed narrowly to gain passage, in its place the Eagleson Bill was passed as a compromise, which determined that all doctoral education and research functions would be the role of Ohio State, and that Miami University and Ohio University would not offer instruction beyond the master’s degree level – an agreement that would remain in place until the 1950s. In 1916, Ohio State was elected into membership in the Association of American Universities.
In 1911, president Thompson wrote in a letter, “the race problem is growing in intensity every year, and I am disposed to doubt the wisdom on the part of the colored people of taking any move that practically forces the doctrine of social equality.” At the same time, Ohio State “practiced racial segregation” that was widespread across the country at the time against Black students, and “there is no known evidence [Thompson] saw benefits in addressing it”. In 2024, after attempts were made to remove Thompson’s statue from the Oval, university spokesperson Ben Johnson stated “the naming review process is thoughtful and thorough and therefore could take several years”, but the statue has not been removed.
With the onset of the Great Depression, Ohio State would face many of the challenges affecting universities throughout America as budget support was slashed, and students without the means of paying tuition returned home to support families. By the mid-1930s, however, enrollment had stabilized due in large part to the role of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and later the National Youth Administration. By the end of the decade, enrollment had still managed to grow to over 17,500. In 1934, the Ohio State Research Foundation was founded to bring in outside funding for faculty research projects. In 1938, a development office was opened to begin raising funds privately to offset reductions in state support.
In 1952, Ohio State founded the interdisciplinary Mershon Center for International Security Studies, which it still houses. The work of this program led to the United States Department of Homeland Security basing the National Academic Consortium for Homeland Security at the university in 2003.
Athletics
Ohio State’s intercollegiate sports teams are called the “Buckeyes” (derived from the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, the Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra), and participate in the NCAA‘s Division I in all sports (Division I FBS in football) and the Big Ten Conference in most sports. (The women’s hockey program competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.) The school colors are scarlet and gray. Brutus Buckeye is the mascot. Ohio State currently has 36 varsity teams. As of 2017, the football program is valued at $1.5 billion, the highest valuation of any such program in the country. The team’s rivalry against the University of Michigan has been termed as one of the greatest in North American sports.
Ohio State is one of six universities – the University of Michigan, the University of Florida, Stanford University, UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley being the others – to have won national championships in all three major men’s sports (baseball, basketball and football). Ohio State is also one of only two universities to appear in the national championship games in both football and men’s basketball in the same calendar year (the other being the University of Florida). Ohio State has also won national championships in wrestling, men’s volleyball, men’s swimming and diving, men’s outdoor track and field, men’s golf, men’s gymnastics, men’s fencing, women’s rowing, co-ed fencing and multiple synchronized swimming championships. The Ohio State equestrian team has won eight Intercollegiate Horse Show Association national championships. Since the inception of the Athletic Director’s Cup, Ohio State has finished in the top 25 each year, including top-six finishes in three of the last five years. During the 2005–2006 school year, Ohio State became the first Big Ten team to win conference championships in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. Ohio State repeated the feat during the 2006–2007 school year, winning solo championships in all three sports. In 2007, Sports Illustrated nicknamed Ohio State’s athletic program as being “The Program” due to the unsurpassed facilities, an unparalleled number of men’s and women’s sports teams and their success, and the financial support of an impressive fan base
