Cleveland State University (also known as Cleveland State or CSU) is a public university in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964, and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the buildings, property, and students of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. CSU absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969. Today it is part of the University System of Ohio, has more than 120,000 alumni, and offers over 200 academic programs. Its mission is to "encourage excellence, diversity, and engaged learning by providing a contemporary and accessible education in the arts, sciences, humanities and professions, and by conducting research, scholarship, and creative activity across these branches of knowledge."