Morgan State College

Morgan State University

Former names	Centenary Biblical Institute Morgan College Morgan State College
Motto	Growing the Future, Leading the World
Type	Public, HBCU
Established	1867 (1867)
Endowment	$28,000,000
Chairman	Kweisi Mfume
President	David Wilson
Provost	Gloria J. Gibson
Academic staff	1,556
Administrative staff	437
Students	7,698
Undergraduates	6,302
Postgraduates	1,396
Location	Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. 39°20′38″N 76°35′06″W / 39.344°N 76.585°W / 39.344; -76.585Coordinates: 39°20′38″N 76°35′06″W / 39.344°N 76.585°W / 39.344; -76.585
Campus	Urban, 143 acres (0.58 km2)
Colors	Blue and Orange
Nickname	Bears
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I – MEAC
Website	www.morgan.edu

Morgan State University (commonly referred to as MSU, Morgan State, or Morgan) is a historically black college (HBCU) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in Maryland. In 1890 the university, formerly known as the "Centenary Biblical Institute", changed its name to Morgan College to honor Reverend Lyttleton Morgan, the first chairman of its Board of Trustees who had donated land to the college. It became a university in 1975. MSU is a member of Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Although a public institution, MSU is not a part of the University System of Maryland; the school opted out and possesses its own governing Board of Regents.

Morgan State University (MSU) was founded in 1872 as the Centenary Biblical Institute, a Methodist Episcopal seminary, to train young men in the ministry. At the time of his death, Thomas Kelso, cofounder and president of the board of directors, endowed the Male Free School and Colored Institute through a legacy of his estate. It later broadened its mission to educate both men and women as teachers. The school was renamed Morgan College in 1890 in honor of the Reverend Lyttleton Morgan, the first chairman of its Board of Trustees, who donated land to the college. In 1895, the institution awarded its first baccalaureate degree to George F. McMechen, after whom the building of the school of business and management is named today. George F. McMechen later obtained a law degree from Yale University and later became one of Morgan's main financial supporters.

In 1915 Andrew Carnegie gave the school a grant of $50,000 for a central academic building. The terms of the grant included the purchase of a new site for the College, payment of all outstanding obligations, and the construction of a building to be named after him. The College met the conditions and moved to its present site in northeast Baltimore in 1917. Then a controversy exploded: in 1918, the white community of Lauraville was incensed that the Ivy Mill property, where Morgan was to be built, had been sold to a "negro" college. It attempted to have the sale revoked by filing suit in the circuit court in Towson, which dismissed the suit. They then appealed the case to the state Court of Appeals. The appellate court upheld the lower court decision, finding no basis that siting the college at this location would constitute a public nuisance. Despite some ugly threats and several demonstrations against the project, Morgan College was allowed to be constructed at the new site and later expanded. Carnegie Hall, the oldest original building on the present MSU campus, was erected a year later.