Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor Emeritus of Divinity, exercised his 300 year-old right to graze his cow in Harvard Yard yesterday.

The Hollis chair, first held by Edward Wigglesworth in 1722, is the oldest endowed professorship in the country, and the perks match the needs of 18th century Harvard professors. (Might these also include the right to own house slaves and the liberty to beat women with thumb-sized sticks?)

Cox equates his cow grazing with saving the Earth, although the event itself seems a bit more niche. In front of a crowd of students, faculty and onlookers the cow, a Jersey named Faith, ate grass while a band of tubas played in celebration of Cox's retirement. There was even a pretentiously titled Latin oration: Ager Secularis: Movere ad Deum et Ruminare.

This cow idea could spawn some budget solutions. And it could potentially revitalize the Cambridge meatpacking industry. Think Bartley's best burger but MUCH fresher. And, in this case, blessed.

After the jump, more photos and a real live (think anticlimactic) video of Faith eating grass.

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Q: U Penn has a vet school? A: Not for long.

The School of Veterinary Medicine was founded when "West Philadelphia was still the countryside." You know, before Will Smith got there and ruined everything. The Pennsylvania government just cut $10 million of the vet school's funding from the state due to that whole recession thing.  Amounting to about 8.5 percent of the total budget, it's the second cut in six months. All these cuts come despite the fact the Government Accountability Office has noted a decline in the number of vets trained in caring for "food animals," and the rise in animal-to-human disease transmission. Now they'll never find the cure for Lena Chen's "swine flu."

This is such bad news that the staff of The Daily Pennsylvanian wrote an editorial demanding the state save the vet school. The staff blames Pennsylvania Governor and UPenn Trustee Ed "The Thing" Rendell for the cuts, accusing him of the mortal sins of favoring state schools and hating cows. An erstwhile Hillary Clinton supporter, this is the first time the latter argument has been made about Rendell.

While the Pennsylvanian staff is writing editorials, the vet students are writing letters to the state capital. It is likely the University's "government affairs office" will make more headway.