Charles Minor

For the character on the US TV series The Office, see Charles Miner.

Charles Landon Carter Minor (December 3, 1835 – July 13, 1903) was the first president of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now known as Virginia Tech), Virginia’s new land-grant institution. Minor, a native of Hanover County, Virginia, held a masters degree from the University of Virginia and taught at Sewanee Episcopal Seminary in Tennessee. Minor had previously spent a year as president of the Maryland Agricultural College (now the University of Maryland) from 1867 to 1868.

Minor opened the doors to the new college on October 1, 1872 with three faculty members, none one of them a professor of agriculture or mechanics. By the end of the first week 29 students were enrolled. By the end of the first year 132 students were enrolled, exceeding expectations.

During a faculty meeting, the generally easygoing Minor and hot-headed Gen. James H. Lane, the professor of mathematics and foreign languages with responsibility for military training got into a fistfight. Both were convicted of disorderly conduct. Ultimately, Minor was removed from office due to the erosion of confidence in his administration.