R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-32-3
The board, as now constituted, and their successors, for the terms for which they have been or for which they hereafter may be appointed regents, shall continue to be a body politic and corporate for the purpose of continuing and maintaining the University of Rhode Island as a university where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach any branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life, as provided in the act of the congress of the United States, approved July 2, 1862, entitled "An Act Donating Public Lands to the Several States and Territories Which May Provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts," and for the purpose of continuing and maintaining an agricultural experiment station as a department of the college under and in accordance with, and to carry out the purposes of, the act of congress approved March 2, 1887, entitled "An Act to Establish Agricultural Experiment Stations in Connection with the Colleges Established in the Several States Under the Provisions of An Act Approved July 2, 1862, and of the Acts Supplementary Thereto."
R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-32-3