Moo U

Contributed by Samantha Rich
[caption id="attachment_1073" align="alignright" width="300" caption="North Carolina State University. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 1950"]

Moo U…Cow College – Sound familiar? NC State students are used to these taunts and puns from friends and foes alike. Students can hear these overused and sometimes unwelcome jokes from students and alumni from rivaling universities at local sporting events. Students may not realize that these jokes have been around almost as long as the university itself. Established as a land-grant college, NC State University began as an agricultural and mechanical arts school, educating young men on various topics including animal husbandry, crop science, engineering and, later, military science. Many students came ‘straight off the farm,’ having lived in rural areas of North Carolina with extensive agricultural backgrounds. This trend continued for several decades and, for some NC State students, still holds true today.

In recent interviews, former NC State student leaders opened up about their rural pasts and described how the university allowed them access to new and exciting opportunities. Former Student Body President Edward Norris Tolson (1961-1962) discussed growing up on a tobacco farm stating, “I grew up in eastern North Carolina, Edgecombe County, on a tobacco and dairy farm outside of Tarboro. I’m the next to youngest of a family of eight children… Edgecombe County is a very rural county, mostly farming, and that’s what we did for a living as a family. It’s about sixty-five miles east of Raleigh so when I came to NC State, coming to NC State and coming to Raleigh was coming to the big city.” Tolson noted his awareness that many of his peers also came from rural backgrounds: “You also have to remember that most of us [former Student Body Presidents Jim Hunt and Haden Edward Knox] were country boys and a lot was done to help us get ahead in life…” (0:29 - 1:11 Tolson oral history)

Former Student Body President Terry Carroll (1973-1974) shared a similar experience: “I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and grew up on a farm, so we had livestock, that sort of thing, so most of what I remember is just having to be on the farm and take care of the animals… Shoveling manure on Saturday night was not my idea of a good time. In fact when I went to State a lot of it was the first time I got to do a lot of things.” Former Student Body President Ed Stack (1991-1992) also noted his rural background: “I grew up in Rowan County here in North Carolina in a little crossroads called Enochville… It was great, small community. Most people in our area were either farmers or textile workers.” (0:16 – 1:24 Carroll oral history, 0:21 – 1:42 Stack oral history)

While many NC State students may not share an agricultural or rural past with these former student leaders, they certainly share a love and affection for their university. So next time your friends tease you for going to ‘Cow College’ smile because it’s true! NC State has a proud history of educating young “country boys” (and girls) for almost 125 years.

Click here to listen to leaders Nolson, Carroll and Stack on their rural backgrounds.

To learn more about the Student Leaders Oral History Initiative or NC State University history visit Historical State . To see a list of available interview's please visit the project's collection guide .