Editing University of Minnesota Duluth (section)

===Founding of University of Minnesota Duluth===
As enrollment increased on the [[University of Minnesota]] campus in the Twin Cities in the 1940s, higher education leaders began to debate how to address overcrowding on the state's land grant university campus. During this time City leaders and area state legislators formed a plan to advocate for establishing a branch campus of the University of Minnesota in the City of Duluth. After significant lobbying efforts a bill was drafted and submitted to the legislature that would instead take the Duluth State Teachers College, remove it from the Minnesota State Teachers College system and establish a branch of the University of Minnesota in 1947.<ref name=autogenerated2>Landmark Structures of Duluth: Their History and Architecture. Sommer, Lawrence J. 1971.</ref> The Legislature narrowly passed the bill and the marriage of the University of Minnesota to Duluth State Teachers College began.<ref>The University of Minnesota 1945-2000, Stanford Lehmberg and Ann M. Pflam, [[University of Minnesota Press]], 2001</ref> It is at this time that the University of Minnesota Duluth was established.<ref>Duluth: An Illustrated History of the Zenith City. Sandvik, Glenn N. Windsor, Publications, Woodland Hills, California. 1983.</ref>

These events were significant statewide as the Duluth State Teachers College was given preference above all of the other state teachers college in 6 other regions of the state to be upgraded to "university" status. These events later led to discord, with [[Geography of Minnesota#Regions|Southern Minnesota]] organizing to request its own university in 1963-1967 as part of efforts to make Mankato State Teachers College into a research university called the [[University of Southern Minnesota]] or [[Minnesota State University]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Star Statehouse Burea |title=Senate Gets Mankato 'U'Bill |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/188217591 |access-date=7 June 2018 |agency=Newspaper.com |newspaper=The Minneapolis Star |date=19 April 1963 |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |page=30}}</ref> It wouldn't be until 1975-1976 that the others would be allowed to develop comprehensive curriculum and expand as full universities. During these initial years the University of Minnesota Duluth was considered directly a part of the University of Minnesota, not an independent institution.