includes the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The university offers degrees in more than 130 courses of study through 18 colleges, and houses 21 research institutes. As a senior military college, Texas A&M is one of six American universities classed as such and has a full-time, volunteer Cadet Corps whose members study alongside civilian undergraduate students. About one-fifth of the student body lives on campus. Texas A&M has more than 1,000 officially recognized student organizations. The university's students, alumni, and sports teams are known as Aggies, and its athletes compete in eighteen varsity sports as a member of the Southeastern Conference.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed the Morrill Act, which auctioned land grants of public lands to establish endowments for colleges at which the "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related …
