 In 1890 one alumnus suggested the university's newly formed football team be called the "Tigers" out of respect for those who fought to defend Columbia.The most dramatic change occurred in 1870 when the School of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts was established as part of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts which gave the college an endowment of of federal land to "teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.