Gallaudet University - Congressional Charter

Congressional Charter

The university acknowledges that it "is a congressionally created corporation that serves governmental objectives." The university and the Department of Education explain that Gallaudet has been structured by the Federal Government to take the form of a "federally chartered, private, non-profit educational institution." The federal government plays various roles within the institution:

• Congress incorporated the Columbia Institution in 1857, significantly amended its charter in 1954 and authorizing permanent congressional appropriations. In 1986, Congress passed the Education of the Deaf Act and amended it in 1992. These Congressional acts are part of "the supreme law of Gallaudet University."
• Gallaudet must obtain authorization from the Secretary of the US Department of Education in order to sell or transfer title of any of its real property
• The diplomas of all Gallaudet graduates are signed by the current U.S. President.
• Three members of Congress are appointed to the university's Board of Trustees as "Public Members."
• Gallaudet must provide annual reports to the Secretary of Education.
• "Gallaudet receives the bulk of its income in the form of an annual appropriation from Congress, and the Department of Education oversees the University's appropriation for the Federal government."
• Gallaudet University (and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf) are authorized to make purchases through the General Services Administration.

Gallaudet's Fifty-Fifth Annual Report contains an appendix that includes the text of 99 Federal Acts related to Gallaudet/Columbia which were enacted between 1857 and 1912.