Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) is a four-year, public university located in Moorhead, Minnesota. The school has an enrollment of nearly 7,500 students and 337 full-time faculty members. MSUM is a part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system. MSUM is located on the western border of Minnesota on the Red River of the North in Moorhead; across the river lies Fargo, North Dakota and the region has a combined population of more than 160,000. Its athletic teams are called the Dragons. The plans for what would become MSUM were laid down in 1885, when the Minnesota State Legislature passed a bill declaring the need for a new state normal school in the Red River Valley, with an eye on Moorhead. The State Senator who proposed the bill, State Senator Solomon Comstock, donated 6 acres (24,000 m) and appropriated the funds that would go to form the campus which opened in 1888. In 1921, the State authorized the school to offer the four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Education and the school became Moorhead State Teachers College. With the entrance of World War II, the college entered into a contract with the Army Air Corps to train aviation students.