The school heretofore established at Montevallo as the Alabama Girls' Industrial School, subsequently known as and called the Alabama Girls' Technical Institute, later known as and called the Alabama Technical Institute and College for Women and still later known as and called Alabama College is and shall remain a body corporate under the corporate name of University of Montevallo, and by that name may sue and contract, acquire and hold real and personal property and have and exercise all the powers of a corporation established to be a state educational institution of higher learning and shall succeed to all the rights, privileges, emoluments, benefits, interests and titles heretofore at any time vested in said institution in its respective names. None of the powers, authority or functions of the corporation provided for in this chapter shall be abated or impaired by this section. Only the name of the institution shall be changed by this section. Whenever such institution is referred to in the constitution and in the laws of Alabama by any one of the respective names by which it has been known, the same shall be considered to refer to University of Montevallo.

The secretary, the treasurer and all other officers, agents or servants of the university who are required to keep, use or dispose of any property of the university shall keep accounts of their transactions in books to be furnished them by the trustees, which shall at all times be open to the inspection and examination of the president, the trustees or anyone appointed by the trustees thereto; and any person withholding such book or books belonging to the university from the inspection of any officer entitled to examine the same shall be immediately removed from his office or employment by the president or trustees.

Any person residing in Alabama, of good character, good health and of sufficient physical and mental development to support the assumption of success in his or her course of study, to be judged by the president or a designee, who shall comply with all the requirements prescribed by the trustees, may be admitted into the university and, upon completing the course of study prescribed at the time of his or her admission, to the satisfaction of the faculty, shall receive the certificate, diploma or degree he or she may have earned. Whenever the accommodations of the university are sufficient to admit more students than apply and are accepted from Alabama, then students from other states or countries may be received and instructed in the university upon such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the president or trustees.

The property of the university, of every kind and description, shall forever be exempt from all taxes, municipal, county or state, and from all local assessments. All employees are exempt from the payment of town licenses for their labor while working for this institution.

(a) The President of the University of Montevallo, with the approval of the board of trustees, is hereby authorized to appoint and employ suitable persons to act as police officers to keep off intruders and prevent trespass upon and damage to the property and grounds of the university. Such persons shall be charged with all the duties and invested with all the powers of police officers and may eject trespassers from the university buildings and grounds and may, without a warrant, arrest any person guilty of disorderly conduct or of trespass upon the property of the university, or for any public offense committed in their presence, and carry them before the nearest municipal or district court, before which, upon proper affidavit charging the offense, any person so arrested may be tried and convicted as in cases of persons brought before him on his warrant. Such officers shall have authority to summon a posse comitatus and may, with a warrant, arrest any person found upon or near the premises of the university who are charged with any public offense and take them before the proper officer.

(b) The police officers provided for in this section shall cooperate with and, when requested, may furnish assistance to the regularly constituted authorities of the City of Montevallo and their jurisdiction and authority shall be coextensive with the corporate limits of the municipality.

(a) The State Fire Marshal shall have exclusive authority to enforce laws, regulations, and ordinances of the state as specified in Section 36-19-2, at the University of Montevallo. These responsibilities shall be performed by the State Fire Marshal or by deputies regularly employed pursuant to the state Merit System acting with the designation and under the direct supervision of the State Fire Marshal. The State Fire Marshal may appoint the Chief of Police and the Director of the Physical Plant of the University of Montevallo as deputies or assistants for the purpose of this section.

(b) This section may not be construed to change the responsibility of the regularly established municipal fire authority to provide fire suppression services on the same basis to all institutions, businesses, and residences within the incorporated limits of the applicable municipality.

As far as may be practicable, students in the university may be employed in giving assistance in any department of work of the university to enable them to obtain instruction therein, but students shall be employed only in cases and to the extent that they may be able to render efficient service without injury to themselves or to the university.

All rights of property and action which may have accrued to the university before October 1, 1927 are confirmed and preserved, including the right to permit alumni and friends to establish such corporate entities as an alumni association and a University of Montevallo Foundation, which may be staffed by and housed at the university, and no grant or gift of any valuable thing or right shall fail by reason of a mistake in the name of this corporation or college; provided, that the intention to grant or give to the institute may be derived from the words used in designating the beneficiary or grantee. All rights, powers and remedies granted in and by an act to create and establish an industrial school in the State of Alabama, approved February 21, 1893, and any act amendatory thereof, are confirmed and preserved for the University of Montevallo.

Whenever the University of Montevallo needs any land or interest therein near the university for its purposes, and the owner thereof is a minor or an insane person, or refuses to sell the land to the state for the use of the university, or will not agree with the board of trustees or the president on a price therefor, the trustees shall have authority to institute in the probate court of Shelby County proceedings in the name of the State of Alabama, to condemn such land, which proceedings shall be conducted as nearly as may be possible in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 1 of Title 18. It shall be the duty of the trustees to pay out of the funds of the university all costs of every condemnation proceeding instituted by them under the power hereby conferred.

The lands now owned by the University of Montevallo or granted by the United States or by the Congress of the United States to the State of Alabama for the use of this institution, shall be leased, sold, conveyed or disposed of only by the board of trustees; provided, that the board of trustees may delegate to its executive committee of three or more of its members the right and power to lease or sell any of said lands, and when any lease or sale shall have been made as herein provided, the Governor, upon request of the board of trustees, or its executive committee, as the case may be, shall execute contracts of lease or deeds of conveyance as may have been agreed on between the board or its executive committee and the lessee or purchaser. All the proceeds arising from the sale, rental or lease of federally granted lands, or any of the rights thereunto pertaining shall be paid into the University of Montevallo restricted endowment, it being the purpose and intent of the university to preserve the principal amount generated by these lands. Any income generated by the University of Montevallo restricted endowment shall be used for the support and maintenance of the university.

The proceeds of all nonfederally granted lands sold or leased by the University of Montevallo, or income therefrom, shall be paid into the University of Montevallo Endowment Fund. The university, out of the money appropriated by the state Legislature for its maintenance, shall pay all the expenses of caring for, protecting and selling the lands.

On May 19, 1980, the Treasurer of the state shall pay to the Treasurer of the University of Montevallo the whole amount of the fund in the Treasury generated by proceeds from both federally granted and other lands dedicated to the benefit of the University of Montevallo. These funds shall be deposited into the University of Montevallo Restricted Endowment Fund.

On October 1, 1996, and on October 1 of each of the next four fiscal years, the State Treasurer shall pay to the Treasurer of the University of Montevallo one-fifth of the remaining principal sum of proceeds not heretofore transferred, which were derived and generated from the sales of federal lands granted by the United States Congress to the State of Alabama for the express support of the University of Montevallo, together with a sum of accumulated deferred interest as specified below. Within 90 days of May 5, 1993, the Governor, Director of Finance, and State Treasurer shall certify and determine the principal sum of all proceeds from sales of the federal and other lands, and the remaining principal sum not heretofore transferred and upon which the state has been and is paying interest at the rate of six percent per annum. They shall also determine and certify the sum of accumulated deferred interest, being the net difference arising from interest paid by the State Treasury to the university on the principal sum of all proceeds from sale of federal and other lands and the total interest which would have been paid at a rate equal to the highest rate paid to any public institution of higher education in Alabama upon endowments created from land sales and held by the State Treasury. The sums transferred shall be deposited in the University of Montevallo Restricted Endowment Fund, and there held inviolate, it being the purpose and intent of the State of Alabama to execute in good faith the trust reposed in it by the United States Congress when granting lands to the state for the benefit of the institution.

Upon the remaining principal sum not heretofore transferred and on the accumulated deferred interest, there shall be paid interest at a rate equal to the highest rate paid to any public institution of higher education in Alabama upon endowments created from land sales and held by the State Treasury, not to exceed eight percent per annum. Interest payments on the amounts transferred under this section shall be computed and paid and shall cease upon the transfer of the amounts to the University of Montevallo Restricted Endowment Fund.

The University of Montevallo shall be governed by a board of trustees composed of the Governor, who shall be president, ex officio, the Superintendent of Education, ex officio, and 11 other trustees (one from each congressional district and, until as otherwise herein provided, a number of trustees from the state-at-large sufficient to bring the number to or keep it at 11.) Five members of the board shall constitute a quorum. Trustees shall be appointed for a term of 12 years. In case of the creation and establishment of an additional congressional district in the state, the at-large trustee most recently appointed shall automatically cease to be a trustee from the state-at-large and become for the remainder of the term trustee for such new district. Otherwise, all new appointees, except for the state-at-large, shall be at the time of their appointment, residents of the district for which they are appointed, respectively. All appointments of trustees shall be made by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. In case of a vacancy in the office of trustee, the Governor shall appoint a successor, who shall hold office till the next meeting of the Legislature, when the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint a trustee, who shall hold office for the unexpired term. A trustee shall be ineligible to be elected by the board of trustees to or otherwise hold any office of the institution where compensation is provided. The trustees are entitled to receive payment of their actual expenses incurred in the discharge of their duties as such trustees.

The University of Montevallo is established generally for the purpose of giving therein instructions in the liberal arts and sciences and in technical and professional subjects suitable for both men and women. To that end, departments or subjects of instruction may be established from time to time by the trustees upon the recommendation of the president in accord with the provisions of Section 16-5-6.

The overriding mission of the University of Montevallo, unique in Alabama higher education, is to provide to students from throughout the state an affordable, geographically accessible, "small college" public higher educational experience of high quality with a strong emphasis on undergraduate liberal studies and with professional programs supported by a broad base of arts and sciences, designed for their intellectual and personal growth in pursuit of meaningful employment and responsible, informed citizenship.

Growing out of that mission and inherent in it are a number of on-going goals which the trustees from time to time may affirm on the basis of recommendations of the president.

The annual objectives of the institution, determined by the president, shall be consistent with the on-going goals and mission of the institution.

On the advice of the faculty, and with the approval of the trustees, the president may grant and confer diplomas, certificates or degrees (including honorary degrees) upon such students or persons as may be entitled thereto under the rules adopted by the trustees governing this subject.

The trustees shall elect a president for a term to be fixed by them, who shall not be removed during the term for which he or she is elected, except for just cause, which shall be explicitly set forth in writing in the minutes of the proceedings of the trustees and approved by a majority of all the trustees. No person shall be eligible to the office of president unless he or she is a graduate of some college or university of well known high standing, an educator by profession, of good moral character and possessing good business and administrative qualifications. The trustees shall fix the compensation of the president, including such emoluments and prerequisites necessary to carry out the functions of the office.

The president, with the advice and consent of the trustees, shall appoint and fix the compensation for all faculty, including professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors and other necessary teachers, and all staff, including professional and nonprofessional staff. The president, academic vice-president, professors, associate professors, assistant professors and instructors shall compose the faculty of the institution. Policies and procedures governing the employment, dismissal, promotion and disciplining of university faculty and staff shall be determined by the trustees.

The trustees of the university shall elect a secretary, who shall hold office for the term and receive such compensation as may be fixed by the trustees and shall perform such services as may be required of him or her. The president of the institution may serve in this position at the pleasure of the trustees.

The trustees shall elect a treasurer, who shall not be a trustee, who shall receive, hold and pay out all moneys belonging to the university or that may be paid in for the necessary expenses of students in the university or for their use and benefit, and the treasurer shall hold office for the term and receive such compensation as may be fixed by the trustees. Before entering upon the duties of the office, the treasurer must give bond in such penalty as the trustees may fix, payable to the University of Montevallo, with conditions that he or she will faithfully receive, safely keep and lawfully pay out, and promptly, fully and fairly account for all moneys or choses in action which may come to him or her by virtue of the office, and the trustees may require a new bond, or an additional bond, whenever they judge that the interest of the university requires it. The business manager or chief financial officer by whatever name appointed by the president may serve in this position at the pleasure of the trustees.

Whenever the funds in the hands of the treasurer or funds about to be received by the office are in danger of being lost, the trustees or president may remove the treasurer from office and take all funds and choses in action belonging to the university or any student therein, and may, in that event, appoint a temporary custodian with bond or security to hold such funds.