Vanderbilt University

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Vanderbilt University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational research university in Nashville, Tennessee.

Vanderbilt was founded in 1873 with a gift of $1 million by shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt who, despite having never been to the South, hoped his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. Today, Vanderbilt enrolls around 11,000 students in ten schools—four undergraduate and six graduate and professional. Also affiliated with the university are several research facilities and a world-renowned medical center, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), which is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Middle Tennessee. Vanderbilt is one of North America's top research institutions and is a member of the Association of American Universities, to whose membership Vanderbilt was elected in 1950.

Contents

1 History

1.1 Founding

1.1.1 Methodist origins
1.1.2 Philanthropy by the Commodore

1.2 Early years

1.2.1 The Garland era
1.2.2 Methodist tension and disaffiliation

1.3 Contemporary Vanderbilt

1.3.1 Academic influence
1.3.2 Divinity School and civil rights
1.3.3 Integrating the Southeastern Conference
1.3.4 Legal action over dormitory name

2 Organization

2.4 Board of Trust
2.5 Chancellor
2.6 Academic divisions

3 Students and faculty
4 Campus

4.1 Layout
4.2 Arboretum

5 Student life

History

Founding

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Methodist origins

In the years prior to the Civil War, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South had been considering creating a regional university for the training of ministers located centrally for the congregations of the church.

Through the lobbying of Nashville bishop Holland McTyeire, church leaders voted in 1872 to create "Central University" in Nashville. However, lack of funds (and the war-ravaged state of the South) delayed the opening of the college.

Philanthropy by the Commodore

The following year, on a medical trip to New York, McTyeire stayed at the residence of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose second wife was the cousin of McTyeire's wife.

Vanderbilt, the wealthiest man in America at the time, had been considering philanthropy causes as he was at an advanced age. His original plan was to establish a university on Staten Island, New York in honor of his mother. However, McTyeire successfully convinced him to donate $500,000 to endow Central University.

The endowment (later increased to $1 million) would be Vanderbilt's only philanthropy. Though the Commodore never expressed any desire to have the university named after himself, McTyeire and his fellow trustees soon rechristened the school as the Vanderbilt University.

Vanderbilt passed away never having even visited the school named after him.

Early years

Kirkland Hall, home of Vanderbilt's administration

The Garland era

In the fall of 1875, about 200 students enrolled at Vanderbilt; the university was dedicated in October of that year. Bishop McTyeire, who had been named chairman of the Board of Trust for life by Vanderbilt as a stipulation of his endowment, named Landon Garland, his mentor from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and then-Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, as chancellor.

Garland shaped the school's structure and hired the school's faculty, many of whom were renowned scholars in their respective fields. However, most of this crop of star faculty left after disputes with Bishop McTyeire.

Methodist tension and disaffiliation

For the first 40 years, the Board of Trust (and therefore the university itself) was under the control of the general conference (the governing body) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. However, tensions began rising between the university administration and the Conference over the future of the school, particularly over the methods by which members of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust would be chosen.

Conflicts escalated with the appointment of James Kirkland as chancellor in 1893. The final straw, at least in the mind of Kirkland, was a failed campaign to raise $300,000 from Southern Methodist congregations (only $50,000 was raised).

Further disputes between the bishops and Kirkland, which erupted into litigation in 1912, led the Methodist conference to sever all ties with Vanderbilt University in June 1914.

Contemporary Vanderbilt

Academic influence

Vanderbilt enjoyed early intellectual influence during the 1920s and 1930s when it hosted two partly overlapping groups of scholars who had a large impact on American thought and letters: the Fugitives and the Agrarians.

Divinity School and civil rights

In 1966, Oberlin Graduate School of Theology moved from Ohio to Nashville, in order to merge with the Vanderbilt Divinity School. In 1979, Vanderbilt absorbed its neighbor Peabody College.

In the late 1950s, the Vanderbilt Divinity School became something of a hotbed of the emerging Civil Rights movement, and the university expelled one of its leaders, James Lawson. Much later, in 2005, he was made a Distinguished Alumnus for his achievements and re-hired as a Distinguished University Professor for the 2006-07 academic year. [The Rev. James Lawson to return as visiting professor] by Jim Patterson, "Vanderbilt Register", January 30, 2006. Access date unknown.

It should be noted that the Divinity School continues to strongly support civil rights for all people, and is among the most gay-friendly seminaries in the United States. Vanderbilt was one of the first seminaries to offer courses on providing affirmative pastoral care to gays and lesbians.

Integrating the Southeastern Conference

As with Lawson, the university drew national attention in 1966, when it recruited the first African American athlete in the Southeastern Conference, Perry Wallace. Wallace, from Nashville, played varsity basketball for Vanderbilt from 1967-1970, and faced considerable opposition from segregationists when playing at other SEC venues. In 2004, a student-led drive to have Wallace's jersey retired finally succeeded.

Legal action over dormitory name

Memorial Hall, located on the Peabody campus, was the subject of a lawsuit to remove the word "Confederate" from its facade.

History, race, and civil rights issues again came to the fore on the campus in 2002, when the university decided to rename a dormitory on the Peabody campus, Confederate Memorial Hall, to Memorial Hall.

Nationwide attention resulted, in part due to a lawsuit by the Tennessee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who had helped pay for the building's construction in 1933 with a $50,000 contribution.

The Davidson County Chancery Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2003, but the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in May 2005 that the university would have to pay damages based on the present value of the United Daughters of the Confederacy's contribution if an inscription bearing the name "Confederate Memorial Hall" were to be removed from the building or altered.

In late July of 2005, the university announced that although it has officially renamed the building and all university publications and offices will refer to it solely as "Memorial Hall," the university would neither appeal the matter further nor remove the inscription and pay damages.

Campus opinion towards the controversy has for the most part been of non-chalance. Meanwhile, racial diversity in campus admissions has increased in recent years, with 22.7% of the Class of 2009 being students of color.

Organization

Vanderbilt University

The Vanderbilt University Seal

Board of Trust

Chancellor

	Chancellor	Tenure	Notes
1	Landon Garland	1875–1893	Organized structure of university
2	James Kirkland	1893–1937	Longest-serving chancellor
3	Oliver Carmichael	1937–1946	–
4	Harvie Branscomb	1946–1962	–
5	Alexander Heard	1963–1982	–
6	Joe B. Wyatt	1982–2000	Raised endowment
7	Gordon Gee	2000–	-

Academic divisions

Academic Division	Dean
College of Arts and Science	Richard McCarty
Blair School of Music	Mark Wait
School of Engineering	Kenneth F. Galloway
Peabody College of Education and Human Development	Camilla Benbow
Graduate School
Divinity School	James Hudnut-Beumler
Law School	Edward L. Rubin
School of Medicine	Steven G. Gabbe
School of Nursing	Colleen Conway-Welch
Owen Graduate School of Management	Jim Bradford

Students and faculty

In 2004, the university reported that 24.1% of University Central faculty were women and 14.4% were minorities. In 2003, seventeen were members of one of the National Academies.

Campus

Layout

The Vanderbilt campus is roughly fan-shaped (with the point at the corner of West End and 21st Avenues) and divisible into six sections, all of which are within walking distance from one another: the furthest distance on campus take about twenty-five minutes to walk.

In the northeast corner of the campus (the "base" of the fan) is the original campus. The first college buildings, including Kirkland Hall, were erected here in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. This section stretches from West End Avenue south to the Stevenson Center and west from 21st Avenue to Alumni Lawn.

The majority of the buildings of the arts and humanities departments of the College of Arts and Science, as well as the facilities of the Law School, Owen, and the Divinity School, are located in the original campus. Additionally, the Jean and Alexander Heard Memorial Library and Sarratt Student Center/Rand Hall can be found on the original campus.

Flanking the original campus to the south are the Stevenson Center for Science and Mathematics and the School of Engineering complex (Jacobs Hall-Featheringill Hall). Housing all science and math departments of the College of Arts and Science, save for psychology, and the School of Engineering, this sprawling complex separates the original campus from the Medical Center.

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center itself takes up the southeastern part of the campus. Besides the various associated hospitals and clinics and the facilities of the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, the medical center also houses many major research facilities.

Directly across 21st Avenue from the Medical Center stands the campus of the Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Due to their separate histories until the merger, the Peabody campus is configured in a radically different style than the original campus. Whereas the latter has an organic design, the Peabody campus is designed geometrically, similar to the Jeffersonian style of the University of Virginia. The campus is home to not only Peabody College but also the future Commons, where all freshmen will live together as part of the College Halls plan (see College Halls, below).

West of the original campus and the Medical Center, Greek Row and the bulk of Vanderbilt residence halls can be found. From north to south, Carmichael Towers, Greek Row, Branscomb Quadrangle, and Highland quad house the vast majority of on-campus residence in facilities ranging from the double-occupancy shared-bathroom dorms in Branscomb and Towers to the apartments and lodges on Highland Quad.

This part of campus is newer than the others; Vanderbilt's westward growth did not start until the 1950's. Consequently, this portion of campus is significantly less green than the arboretum on the original campus and more indicative of the University's urban local.

Memorial Gymnasium, Vanderbilt Stadium, Hawkins Field, McGugin Center, and all the other varsity athletic fields and facilities are to be found in the extreme west of campus. The Student Recreation Center, and its associated intramural fields, are located south of the varsity facilties

Arboretum

The oldest part of the Vanderbilt campus is known for its abundance of trees and green space, which stand in contrast to the surrounding cityscape of urban Nashville. At least one specimen of every tree that is indigenous to the state of Tennessee grows on campus.

One tree, the Bicentennial Oak between Rand Hall and Garland Hall, is certified to have lived during the American Revolution and is the oldest thing on the campus.

The main (original) campus was designated by the Association of Botanical Gardens and Aboreta as a national arboretum in 1988, a status that the university does not take lightly. One interesting consequence of this designation that any visitor to the campus will quickly notice is the length to which trees on campus are protected. Signs posted on the trees by various student groups are actually bound to the trees with wire instead of being nailed to the tree, as it is unlawful to cause damage to any tree in a national arboretum.

Student life

Organizations

There are religious groups like the Baptist Collegiate Ministries, the Reform University Fellowship, the Campus Crusade for Christ, and the Wesleyan/Canterbury Fellowship.

The campus radio station, WRVU, represents the student body by playing a range of music from bluegrass to choral.

There are also more than thirty service organizations on campus, giving students the opportunity to perform community service across the country and around the world, including the Vanderbilt-founded Alternative Spring Break.

Greek Life

Fraternities

Alpha Epsilon Pi	Alpha Phi Alpha*	Alpha Tau Omega
Beta Chi Theta	Beta Theta Pi	Beta Upsilon ChiBYX is not administered through the Office of Greek Life, but (due to its dual social-religious nature) through the Office of Student Organizations. It remains, however, a national fraternity (see Beta Upsilon Chi) with a robust presence at Vanderbilt (see "Fraternity recruitment decreases slightly." The Vanderbilt Hustler, May 7, 2006, p. 1, col. 1).
Delta Kappa Epsilon	Kappa Alpha Order	Kappa Alpha Psi*
Kappa Sigma	Lambda Chi Alpha	Lambda Theta Phi
Omega Psi Phi*	Phi Beta Sigma*	Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Sigma	Pi Kappa Alpha	Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Chi	Sigma Phi Epsilon	Zeta Beta Tau

In addition to the officially recognized fraternities and sororities, the Nu Society (formerly Vanderbilt's chapter of Sigma Nu) maintains an off-campus presence.

Sororities

Honor Code

The Undergraduate Honor Council was formed to help enforce and protect the tradition of the Honor Code. Today, the Honor Council serves two simultaneous aims: to enforce and protect the Honor Code and to inform members of the Vanderbilt community about the Honor System.

Student housing

Current arrangements

Therefore, in reality, approximately 80% of undergraduates -— freshmen, sophomores, and nearly all juniors -— live on campus. Even most senior undergraduates live on campus, and those that do not join the graduate and professional students in living near campus. Consequently, student life at Vanderbilt is heavily intertwined with campus life.

This policy is set to change with the opening of the College Halls system in 2008. In that year, with the addition of 900 new beds, very few undergraduates will be granted permission to live off-campus.

College Halls

Kappa Alpha Theta, 1904	Delta Delta Delta, 1911
Alpha Omicron Pi, 1917	Pi Beta Phi, 1940
Kappa Delta, 1949	Chi Omega, 1954
Alpha Delta Pi, 1978	Kappa Kappa Gamma, 1978
Alpha Chi Omega, 1982	Delta Gamma 2000

Similar to the residential structure at Yale and Princeton, the new system, entitled "College Halls" by Vanderbilt, would create residence halls where students and faculty would live together in a self-sustaining environment for growth with study rooms, cafeterias, laundry facilities, and stores.

The change is being made in the hope of fostering a better learning atmosphere for students living on campus, as well as making students less reliant on Greek life for social status. While there will still be Greek organizations, the College Halls system will establish a social structure for those students who chose not to join a fraternity or sorority. Many students who are members of Greek organizations worry about the effect that the College Hall system will have on their organizations, but the administration has assured them that Vanderbilt remains committed to Greek life.

This project is well underway and is scheduled to be completed within the next twenty years. The first step in the College Halls system will be The Commons, a collection of ten residential halls on the Peabody campus that will house all first-year students beginning in the fall of 2008.

While the university currently houses freshmen in three separate and very distinct residential areas, it is hoped that The Commons will give first-year students a unified (and unifying) living-learning experience. In order to accommodate these ten residential halls, the university is in the process of renovating five existing Peabody dormitories and building five new ones.

Media

The Vanderbilt community produces media of all genres and in all formats at a prolific rate by students, alumni, and the faculty alike.

The Vanderbilt Register is the official newspaper of the university administration and faculty. Published once every two weeks, it does not publish opinion.

Exploration is the university's online research magazine. It publishes multimedia stories that explain campus research projects ranging from archeology to zoology, probe the motives that drive the modern-day explorers that perform these studies and describe the experiences of Vanderbilt students who become involved in actual scientific research.

In spite of the lack of an organized journalism curriculum, no less than nine editorially-independent media outlets are produced and controlled by students. Seven print publications, a broadcast radio station and a closed-circuit television station provide a forum for student opinion and issues. These divisions are organized and controlled by Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. In addition, students at the Law School publish three law reviews.

Alumni produce fourteen publications, one for each school and one overall alumni publication: Vanderbilt Magazine. In addition, an electronic newsletter, .commodore, is produced.

Medical Center

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a vital component of the university. It is distinguished in medical education, research, and patient care. It comprises the following units:

Rankings and unusual research

In the U.S. News 2006 graduate program rankings, the Vanderbilt University Law School ranks 17th, Vanderbilt's Peabody College ranks fifth among schools of education, and Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management ranks 45th among business schools. (Though it has been argued that Vanderbilt's ranking is hindered by its relatively small size. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal recently ranked Owen second among "smaller" business schools.) U.S News ranked the university's School of Medicine 17th in the nation among research-oriented medical schools in its annual ratings of best American educational institutions.

Additionally, Vanderbilt is ranked first in the nation in the fields of special education and audiology. It is also ranked in the top ten (currently at number seven overall) for its graduate department of religion, and in particular it garners even higher ratings for its work in religion and personality and homiletics.

As with any large research institution, Vanderbilt investigators work in a broad range of disciplines. However, among its more unusual activities, the university has institutes devoted to the study of coffee and of bridge (the game, invented by a great-grandson of the Commodore). In addition, in mid-2004 it was announced that Vanderbilt's [chemical biology research] may have serendipitously opened the door to the breeding of a blue rose, something that had long been coveted by horticulturalists and rose lovers.

Myths

Athletics

Vanderbilt fields teams in 16 varsity sports (6 men's and 10 women's). Men's and women's tennis, men's and women's basketball, and women's lacrosse are traditionally the school's strongest sports, though the football program was quite well respected until the 1940's and 1950's under legendary coach Jess Neely and has improved somewhat in recent years thanks in large part to the exploits of former quarterback Jay Cutler, who was the 11th overall selection in the 2006 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.

The school is a member of the Southeastern Conference (in which it is the only private school) in Division I of the NCAA. Additionally, the school is a member of the American Lacrosse Conference (women's lacrosse), as the SEC does not sponsor that sport. Conversely, Vanderbilt is the only league school not to field teams in softball and volleyball, two women's sports that are sponsored by the SEC.

The baseball team qualified for the NCAA Super Regionals in 2004 and had the nation's top recruiting class in 2005 [link].

Mascot

The actual term commodore was used by the Navy during the mid- to late-nineteenth century. A commodore was the commanding officer of a task force of ships, and therefore higher in rank than a captain but lower in rank than an admiral. The closest parallel to this now-defunct rank is rear admiral lower-half.

Since the term was used most during the late nineteenth century—and because it was then that Cornelius received his nickname—Vanderbilt's mascot is always portrayed as a naval officer from the 1880s, complete with chops, cutlass, and nineteenth-century naval regalia.

School Colors

When questioned about the subject in the 1930s, the few remaining members of the school's first football squad from 1890 did not recall why they suddenly began appearing in black and gold. Whatever the source of the colors, by 1892, the Commodores were known by the colors that the Vanderbilt faithful still wear today.

Traditions and rivalries

Facilities

Recent changes in athletics at Vanderbilt

New sports added. In January 2006, Vanderbilt's administration announced that the varsity men's soccer program would be eliminated at the end of the academic year, introducing varsity women's swimming in its place. The announcement was met with some hostility by students, fans, and the team itself, whose coach, Tim McClements, had been named Coach of the Year by the Missouri Valley Conference in 2005. Vice Chancellor for Student Life and University Affairs David Williams said that the decision was made because of budgetary reasons, the desires of Southeastern Conference officials, Title IX equality requirements, facility use (Memorial Gymnasium has a pool), and the overall fit with the student body.

Notable faculty and alumni

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Vanderbilt University

History

Founding

Methodist origins

Philanthropy by the Commodore

Early years

The Garland era

Methodist tension and disaffiliation

Contemporary Vanderbilt

Academic influence

Divinity School and civil rights

Integrating the Southeastern Conference

Legal action over dormitory name

Organization

Board of Trust

Chancellor

Academic divisions

Students and faculty

Campus

Layout

Arboretum

Student life

Organizations

Greek Life

Fraternities

Sororities

Honor Code

Student housing

Current arrangements

College Halls

Media

Medical Center

Rankings and unusual research

Myths

Athletics

Mascot

School Colors

Traditions and rivalries

Facilities

Recent changes in athletics at Vanderbilt

Notable faculty and alumni

References

Notes

See also

External links