Most colleges in the United States have a Latin motto. Some are simple. Harvard's Latin motto is fairly famous. It's the single word "Veritas", which means "truth". The University of Oregon's is "Mens agitat molem", which translates to "minds move mountains". I like that one.
Others are more complex and sometimes confusing. The motto of the University of Kansas is "Videbo visionem hanc magnam quare non comburatur rubus", which in English is "I will see this great sight, how the bush does not burn." It was originally said by Moses in the book of Exodus, and probably in Hebrew, not Latin. I don't really know what connection it has to Kansas.
Boise State's latin motto is "Splendor sine occasu", or "Excellence without end". And at the University of Wyoming, it's "Domi habuit unde disceret". I like that one, too. In English it means "He need not go away from home for instruction". In other words, "Hey, if you grew up in Wyoming, you do have the option of staying here for college. You don't have to leave." And that makes perfect sense in a state where the population is 576 thousand. Out of fifty states, in population, Wyoming is number fifty. It's dead last. And if you count the District of Columbia, Wyoming is number 51. In fact, more people live in the Treasure Valley than live in Wyoming.
I mention Wyoming because in nine days the Boise State Broncos will be back home in Bronco Stadium to play the Wyoming Cowboys. The cowboy was a good choice as the mascot of the University of Wyoming. The center mall area of the university campus is a large grassy area known as "Prexy's Pasture". There's a law in the Wyoming state code that says no buildings or structures of any kind can ever be built on Prexy's Pasture. The reason for that comes from the reason the area is called Prexy's Pasture. Prexy is short for President. They call it Prexy's Pasture because it's the area of campus that was specially designated so the university president could have a place to graze his cattle. The current president of the university, Bob Sternberg, is a psychologist by trade and doesn't have any cattle. I don't know if he has a big hat.
The university is located in the town of Laramie, Wyoming, which has a population of about 30-thousand. The school, as you might expect, is the center of most of the cultural activity in Laramie. Laramie was named for a French-Canadian trapper, Jacques LaRamie. In French, the "r" in LaRamie is capitalized. In Wyoming, it isn't. Jacques Laramie is interesting because in Wyoming there is a town, a county, a U.S. Army fort, a mountain range, a mountain peak and a river all named after him. So what did Mr. Laramie do to deserve immortality? According to a National Park Service handbook I picked up several years ago at Yellowstone, Jacques Laramie disappeared in the mountains of Wyoming in 1820 and was never heard from again. That's it.
The city of Laramie is special, though, in American history, especially the history of American women. In 1869, what is now Wyoming was organized as the Wyoming Territory. The territory quickly organized a legislature, and in one of its first acts, the legislature passed a law giving women the same political rights as men. In March of 1870, five Laramie residents became the first women in the world to serve on a jury. But that's not all. On September 6, 1870, Laramie became the first town in Wyoming to hold a municipal election. So a Laramie resident became, on that day, the first woman in United States history to cast a legal vote. And yes, she voted for Dick Cheney.
