Centre College
Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students.
History
The Kentucky General Assembly established Centre College on January 21, 1819. The college was named for its approximate location in the geographic "centre" of the Commonwealth, using early-nineteenth-century America's contemporaneous spelling of the word. The legislature placed many of Kentucky's most prominent citizens in charge of Centre College's Board of Trustees, including James G. Birney, who represented Danville in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and chairman Isaac Shelby, the Commonwealth's first governor. Classes began in the fall of 1820 in Old Centre, the first building on campus and the oldest college administration building west of the Allegheny Mountains. The students were all male, a policy that would hold until 1930, and none were African-American, which would change only in 1961.In its early years, Centre navigated financial hardships, disputes within and outside the Presbyterian Church, and six wars, including the occupation of Old Centre by both Confederate and Union troops during the Civil War. A Centre alumnus, John Todd Stuart, played a formative role in American history by encouraging Abraham Lincoln to study for the bar, providing his first set of law books, and serving as Lincoln's professional and political mentor. In 1835, future Liberian Vice President James M. Priest applied to study theology; his application, like all those from Black people, was rejected. From 1830 to 1857, President John C. Young oversaw a vast enlargement of the faculty and a five-fold increase in the student body.
Following the Civil War, Centre affiliated itself with several other educational institutions. From 1894 until 1912, J. Proctor Knott, a former Kentucky governor and U.S. congressman, operated a law school at Centre as its dean. The Centre College Board of Trustees controlled the Kentucky School for the Deaf, also in Danville, during its early years; consolidated the college with the Central University in Richmond, Kentucky in 1901; from the time of the merger with Central University in 1901 until 1918 Centre College went by the name "Central University of Kentucky". It merged with Danville's Kentucky College for Women in 1930, although the women did not move onto Centre's campus until 1962.
During the 1960s the college's financial resources doubled. Eleven new buildings were added to the campus and enrollment increased from 450 to 800. In 1988, Centre set a national record when it achieved a 75.4% participation rate for alumni giving, a mark that remains unbroken to this day. From the late twentieth century to the present, strong levels of alumni giving and participation—often the highest in the nation—fueled the college's growth. Today, enrollment is around 1,300 with nearly 150 faculty members. Milton C. Moreland, who took office in 2020, is the current president, Centre's 21st. In 2000, Centre became the smallest college ever to host a national election debate. Dick Cheney and Senator Joe Lieberman debated on October 5 at Centre's Norton Center for the Arts with CNN's Bernard Shaw acting as moderator. In 2012, Centre again hosted a vice presidential debate in the Norton Center for the Arts, which featured Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan.
The physical campus has changed substantially during the 21st century. In 2005, the college completed The College Centre, a $22-million project to expand and renovate Suttcliffe Hall, the Crounse Academic Center and Grace Doherty Library, which was the largest construction project on campus since the Norton Center was built in 1973. Additionally, a new student residence, Pearl Hall, was completed in 2008; a new campus center opened in October 2009; and the construction of a new science wing in Young Hall was completed in the fall of 2010. In August 2011, Centre announced the construction of Brockman Residential Commons, a 125-bed facility offering apartment and townhouse living for upperclassmen. The residence facility was completed at the beginning of the 2012–13 school year.
Classes at Centre are held in spite of several federal holidays—including Presidents, Labor, Columbus, and Veterans Days—and rarely cancelled, which are points of pride among students, staff, and alumni. During the Confederate occupation of Old Centre in 1862, classes were held at Old Sayre library. However, the Battle of Perryville eventually forced the faculty to suspend classes for 13 days, the college's only cancellation during the Civil War. Classes were cancelled one day due to the Great Blizzard of 1978. In 1994 and 1998, when severe snow and ice storms shut down much of the Commonwealth, classes were delayed by half a day. In 2000, classes were cancelled before the Vice Presidential Debate. In spring 2001, the entire campus was evacuated after a hazardous chemical spill on the train tracks at the end of Greek Row. On March 7, 2006, classes were cut short to allow students and staff to attend a symposium honoring retiring Dean John Ward. On March 15, 2020, in response to COVID-19 developments, President John Roush announced that classes would be temporarily suspended to implement an early, extended two-week Spring Break, followed by online learning for the rest of the term.
2000 vice presidential debate
On Thursday, October 5, 2000, Centre College hosted the vice presidential debate, becoming the smallest college in the smallest town ever to serve as a host site for a general election debate. Dubbed "The Thrill in the Ville", the debate between Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman took place in the college's Norton Center for the Arts. The event was a tremendous success, being heralded by former CBS news anchor Dan Rather as "the best vice presidential debate ever held." After the 2000 debate concluded, Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said that "Centre has set the standard by which future debates will be judged."2012 vice presidential debate
Twelve years after hosting its first debate, Centre College again hosted a vice presidential debate on October 11, 2012. The debate between vice presidential incumbent Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan, with moderator Martha Raddatz, was called "one of the most engaging, enlightening, and entertaining debates of recent memory, one marked by dramatic contrasts in priorities, ideology, and personal style." Of Centre College's performance as a host site, Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said, "They aced it in 2000 and this year was even better."2018 student protest and sit-in
Over 200 Centre College students took part in a protest and sit-in at the campus administration building, Old Centre, on May 2, 2018. The students were protesting racial discrimination on campus. A group of black students drafted and presented a statement of intent and list of demands to the campus and school administration, demanding changes concerning the school's Department of Public Safety, Title IX office, and the creation of a Diversity and Inclusion office, among other things. Over 400 students signed a petition supporting the movement. The protesters were present all day and night in Old Centre from May 2 to 4 while student leaders negotiated with President John Roush, sleeping in the building and in tents outside; they said they refused to leave until their demands were met. The sit-in ended on May 4, with school administration agreeing to many of the student demands.Campus
Centre's campus includes 67 buildings, 14 of which are included on the National Register of Historic Places.Old Centre
Completed in 1820, Old Centre is the college's first building, the oldest continuously operated academic building west of the Alleghenies, and the template for the Greek Revival style of the campus. Today it houses the offices of the president, vice president for academic affairs, and vice president for college relations, in addition to several classrooms and the college's Admissions Welcome Centre. At various times it has served as a library, dormitory, law school, faculty residence, and, during the Civil War, a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers. Old Centre is a Kentucky Landmark, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and included in the ''Smithsonian Guide to Historic Places.''Old Carnegie
Built in 1913 with a $30,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie, Old Carnegie was the college library until 1966. It currently houses the Center for Career & Professional Development and the Center for Global Citizenship, as well as the special-occasion Evans-Lively dining room. Old Carnegie is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.Norton Center for the Arts
Norton Center for the Arts has hosted performers such as violinist Itzhak Perlman, dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Twyla Tharp, the Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic, Henry Mancini, jazz vocalists Pearl Bailey and Sarah Vaughan, the Orchestre de Paris with Daniel Barenboim, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Yo-Yo Ma, Beach Boys, Huey Lewis and the News, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt, LeAnn Rimes, Lyle Lovett, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, crooner Tony Bennett, The Chieftains, Three Dog Night, David Copperfield, Dolly Parton, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ben Folds, They Might Be Giants, Ana Gasteyer, Kate Flannery, and musicals such as Rent, Cats, Titanic, Annie Get Your Gun, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hairspray, My Fair Lady and Ain't Misbehavin featuring Ruben Studdard. In October 2000, the Norton Center hosted the vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and Senator Joe Lieberman. In September 2009, Centre garnered national attention by hosting the Vienna Philharmonic, marking the only stop on the Philharmonic's American tour other than New York's Carnegie Hall. In October 2012, the Norton Center hosted the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. Centre students can attend most of the Norton Center events at no extra cost.The Norton Center for the Arts was built in 1973 and originally named the Regional Arts Center. The complex was designed by architect William Wesley Peters of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It was later renamed for Jane Morton Norton, a former trustee of Centre College. The complex was refurbished in 2009.