cornell university ( ) is in ithaca, new york, united states. it is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the state of new york for certain educational missions. ezra cornell and andrew dickson white co-founded it in 1865 by sponsoring a bill in the new york state legislature to designate it as new york's land grant college. the university was intended to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge–from the classics to the sciences and from the theoretical to the applied. this goal was uncommon in 1865. the goal is stated in cornell's motto, an 1865 ezra cornell quotation: "i would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." since its founding, cornell has also been a co-educational, secular institution where admission is offered irrespective of gender, religion or race.