At Michigan State University, “the pioneer land-grant university,” the pioneering spirit lives on, but it sometimes scares people, especially its most ardent supporters. Some fear that the strongest land-grant feature—its agricultural character—will die out, buried by law schools, business schools, and medical schools doing cancer research. As evidence, they can point to the departure of the last farmer on the board of trustees after the elections two years ago. Or to the fact that Morrill Hall, by an ironic twist of fate, will be torn down in the anniversary year of the Morrill Act. Or to the narrow survival of […]