The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The present trustees of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and their successors, are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic, by the name of “Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.” By that name they shall have perpetual succession, with power to fill vacancies as they may occur from time to time in their board, to sue and be sued, to complain and defend, to contract and be contracted with, to make and use a common seal, and to alter the same from time to time, at their pleasure; to purchase, take and hold, by gift, grant or otherwise, and to dispose of any real and personal property, and to borrow from time to time such sum or sums, as may be necessary to aid in maintaining this school, and to give proper and sufficient obligations for the same; provided that the funds of said corporation shall be used and appropriated to the object of maintaining a scientific and literary school in the county of Rensselaer. [As amended in 1907.]
Section 2. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is hereby incorporated for the purpose of continuing and maintaining in the city of Troy and county of Rensselaer, a school for instruction in mathematics, civil engineering, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, botany, literature and the arts and their application to agriculture, domestic economy and manufacturing, as the trustees shall direct; and for the delivery of lectures on such subjects connected therewith as may be deemed necessary by said Board of Trustees.
Section 3. The Trustees shall hold an annual meeting on such day as may be prescribed by their bylaws, and such other meetings as may be called by the President of the Board; and a meeting shall be called at any time, at the written request of any three members of the Board. But no meeting shall be held unless notice shall have been sent by mail to, or left at, the dwelling house or place of residence of each member of the Board signed by the Secretary, or in case of his inability by the President or Vice-President. [As amended in 1866.]
Section 4. No new Trustee shall be elected, nor shall any real estate be purchased or alienated unless at least ten members of the Board shall be present at the meeting. Seven members shall be a quorum for the transaction of any other business. The Board shall have power in its discretion to increase the number of Trustees, so as to make it consist of no more than thirty-five members, including the Mayor of Troy. If any Trustee shall, for a continuous period of one year, fail to attend the meetings of the Trustees, without reasonable excuse, he may be removed from his office as Trustee at any meeting of the Trustees where there are not less than twelve Trustees present. [As amended in 1866 and 1982.]
Section 5. The Mayor of the city of Troy for the time being shall, ex-officio, be a member of the Board.
Section 6. The Board of Trustees shall have power to appoint a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, a Prudential Committee, a Director, and such other officers as they may deem necessary; to make such by-laws as they may deem proper for the election of their officers and for defining their duties, and for the regulation and government of the Institute, and the school connected therewith; to appoint professors and teachers in said school, and remove the same, including the Director, at their pleasure, and to prescribe the compensation to be allowed to each for his services; to organize the school under the charge of the instructors, and define their duties in the government and discipline of said school; to fix the amount of term fees and other charges for tuition; the amount of fines and other impositions, including damages for injury done by students to the property of the Institute; and to make such rules and regulations for the suspension or expulsion of students as may be necessary for maintaining the discipline of the school. [As amended in 1887.]
Section 7. The Director and professors shall constitute the faculty of said school, and, subject to the by-laws, the Director shall have charge of the course of instruction and discipline in said school, and it shall be his duty to prescribe and pursue such as system of instruction as shall be calculated to make thorough scholars in the several branches of civil engineering and other studies of this Institute. [As amended in 1887.]
Section 8. The Board of Trustees shall have power to confer the degrees of civil engineer, topographical engineer, bachelor of science and other such other academical honors as they may see fit on such individuals as shall have pursued the course of study prescribed in the Institute, and shall have conformed to the rules and regulations for the government of the same, and who, in a thorough examination, shall have been found qualified for their respective degrees, and been recommended by the faculty for the same.
Section 9. The officers of the present Board of Trustees of Rensselaer Institute shall continue to hold their respective offices in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute until others are appointed in their stead by the Board; and all by-laws and resolutions of the Board as now organized shall remain in full force, as the acts of the new Board until repealed, altered or amended by the Board constituted under this act, and the present Director and professors and teachers shall be continued in office and pursue the present prescribed course of study and instruction, until otherwise ordered by the Board.
Section 10. All the real and personal estate of Rensselaer Institute shall belong to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and all liabilities and obligations of the present Board shall be equally binding on the Board as organized by this act; and any suit in law now pending, commenced in the name of Rensselaer Institute, may be continued and conducted in the same name, and for the benefit of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in the same manner as if the corporate name had not been changed by this act.
Section 11. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shall be subject to the visitation of the Regents of the University, and shall be entitled to the same privileges, government fund and other advantages as the academies, colleges, and other schools of the higher order, on complying with the terms required by law and the rules of said Regents.
Section 12. The corporation shall have all such powers, and be subject to such duties and liabilities as are specified or contained in the second and fifth articles of the first title of the fifteenth chapter; and in title third, chapter eighteen, of the first part of the revised statures, except so far as the same are inconsistent with this act.
Section 13. All laws and parts of laws relating to the incorporation of the Rensselaer School, or Rensselaer Institute, inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
Section 14. This act shall take effect immediately.