According to UC Hastings's official centennial history, its founder, "whether from arrogance, oversight, ignorance, or a combination of all three, was the author of his own troubles." Although the founder had selected the original UC Hastings board of directors from among his professional acquaintances, he failed to adequately verify their concurrence with his beliefs that a proper legal education must include a course in legal ethics and must also be hybridized with elements of a liberal arts education. To his horror, it turned out they all believed that the only purpose of a law school was to provide vocational education in how to practice law. This latter belief was shared by the first professor hired, John Norton Pomeroy, who personally taught the vast majority of courses during Hastings' early years. The founder hoped to educate cultured intellectuals who also happened to be lawyers; the board simply wanted to produce lawyers. It was impossible to reconcile these fundamentally different visions, and by September 1882, Serranus Clinton Hastings had become estranged from his own handpicked board. By that point in time, he had come to see the Board of Regents as a superior vehicle for infusing liberal arts and legal ethics into his law school, and in March 1883 arranged for another legislative act that purported to transfer the Hastings College of the Law directly to the University of California and vested responsibility for its governance in the Regents. This was in facial conflict with the "affiliate" language in Section 8 of the Organic Act, so in February 1885, another act was passed to create a "pro forma" board of trustees for the sole purpose of holding title to UC Hastings assets at arm’s length from the Regents (but under which the Regents would continue to have the right to manage such assets).