Some years ago it was commonly said that the University of Minnesota has a certain degree of autonomy that other agencies of the state do not have, and one of the consequences was that it was less than completely bound by budgets passed by the legislature. Thus if the legislature passed an act saying the Department of Transportation was to use a certain number of dollars for the maintenance of roads and a certain amount for building ten new bridges, then that's the law, but if they say the University is to spend a certain amount of money to hire new professors and a certain amount to build a new physics building, the University is allowed to deviate from that, incurring political but not legal liabilities.
I seem to recall failing to find that in the constitution of the state. It says "All the rights, immunities, franchises and endowments heretofore granted or conferred upon the University of Minnesota are perpetuated unto the university". Does "heretofore" mean it's incorporating some provision of a territorial organic act?
Does anything in my first paragraph make any sense from some reasonable point of view?