Ohio State's intercollegiate sports teams
are called the "Buckeyes" (after the state tree, the Buckeye), and
participate in the NCAA's Division I-A in all sports and the Big Ten
Conference in most sports. (The men's hockey program competes in the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and its women's hockey program
competes in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association). The school
colors are Scarlet and Gray, although they were originally black and
orange. The colors were not used however, because Princeton already used
the colors. The mascot of OSU is Brutus Buckeye.
Ohio State began accepting graduate students in the 1880's, with the
university awarding its first master's and doctoral degrees in 1886 and
1890 respectively. 1891 saw the founding of Ohio State's law school.
In 1906, Ohio State 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 Miami and Ohio University. Although the Lybarger
Bill failed narrowly to gain passage, in its place was passed the
compromise Eagleson Bill, which determined that all doctoral education
and research functions would be the role of Ohio State and that the two
older institutions would not offer instruction beyond the master's
degree level. This arrangement would stand for the next fifty years
until population growth had necessitated additional Ph. D programs in
the state.
1912 saw the formation of Ohio State's Graduate School to coordinate the
univeristy's burgeoning master's and doctoral enrollments. In 1914, Ohio
State's college of medicine was formed through a merger with Starling
medical college. That year also saw the founding of Ohio State's School
of Dentistry. In 1916, the board of trustees approved the formation of a
College of Commerce and Journalism.
Subsequently, Ohio State's solidifying of its role as the state's
flagship, comprehensive university was fairly rapid, as demonstrated by
its 1916 induction into the prestigious Association of American
Universities. To date, it remains the only public university in Ohio to
be extended AAU membership. This momentum was further accelerated by
Governor Harry L. Davis, who in his 1921 inaugural address declared
that, "In Ohio State University the commonwealth has an educational
institution which should become the largest and best state institution
in the United States. This is evidenced by the development of the
institution in recent years, and I desire specifically to ask the
co-operation of the General Assembly in the effort which I propose to
make to help Ohio State University to attain that goal in the not too
distant future." He subsequently shepherded a one-eighth of a mil tax
levy through the legislature to fund a university building fund.
Seventy-two percent of the funds were earmarked for Ohio State
University with the remainder split between Miami University and Ohio
University. By decade's end, the university's enrollment stood at 15,126
a more than four-fold increase from just twenty years prior.
