Sewanee: The University of the South


The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee, is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee, United States. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of the church. The campus consists of of scenic mountain property atop the Cumberland Plateau, with the developed portion occupying about.

History

Beginning in the 1830s, Bishop James Otey of Tennessee led an effort to found an Episcopal seminary in the Deep South. Following the Mexican War, the Episcopal Church saw tremendous growth in the region and a real need for an institution "to train natives, for natives", as Otey put it arose. Up to that point, only the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, existed south of the Mason-Dixon Line and other denominations were already establishing schools in the region. The location was chosen primarily because of the proximity to the major railway hub of Chattanooga, Tennessee and the existing railroad spur up the mountain, the "Mountain Goat" which ran from 1858 until April 1985. Bishop Leonidas Polk commented that due to the access to railroads one could reach any point in the South from Sewanee within thirty-six to forty-eight hours.
On July 4, 1857, delegates from ten Southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas—were led up Monteagle Mountain by Polk for the founding of their denominational college for the region. The goal was to create a Southern university free of Northern influences. As Otey put it: the new university will "materially aid the South to resist and repel a fanatical domination which seeks to rule over us." The majority of the land for the university was donated by the Sewanee Mining Company on the condition that a university "be put in operation within ten years". The company's early profits were derived from the labor of mainly African-American convict leasing. John Armfield, co-founder of Franklin & Armfield, "the largest slave trading firm" in the United States, was the largest single donor involved in the founding of the university.
The six-ton marble cornerstone, laid on October 10th, 1860, and consecrated by Polk, was blown up in 1863 by Union soldiers; many of the pieces were collected and kept as keepsakes by the soldiers. A few were donated back to the university, and a large fragment was eventually installed in a wall of All Saints' Chapel. Several figures later prominent in the Confederacy, notably Polk, Bishop Stephen Elliott, Jr., and Bishop James Hervey Otey, were founders of the university. Generals Edmund Kirby Smith, Josiah Gorgas, and Francis A. Shoup were prominent in the university's postbellum revival.
Because of the damage and disruptions during the Civil War, construction came to a temporary halt. Polk died in action during the Atlanta campaign. He is remembered through his portrait Sword Over the Gown, painted by Eliphalet F. Andrews in 1900. After the original was vandalized in 1998, a copy by Connie Erickson was unveiled on June 1, 2003.
In 1866, building was resumed, and this date is sometimes used as the re-founding of the university and the year from which it has maintained continuous operations, though official materials and anniversary celebrations still use 1857. The university's first convocation was held on September 18, 1868, with nine students and four faculty members present. Presiding was Charles Todd Quintard, vice-chancellor of the university, second Bishop of Tennessee and "Chaplain of the Confederacy". He attended the first Lambeth Conference in England and received financial support from clergy and laity of the Church of England for rebuilding the school. Quintard is known as the "Re-Founder" of the University of the South.
During World War II, the University of the South was one of 131 tertiary institutions nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered students a path to a Navy commission.
Schools of dentistry, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing once existed, and a secondary school was part of the institution into the second half of the 20th century. However, for financial reasons it was eventually decided to focus on the college and the School of Theology. In June 2006, Sewanee opened its School of Letters, a second graduate school. It offers a Master of Arts in American Literature and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

2004 name change

For the period 2004 to about 2016, the institution combined its two historical names in all university publications that were not official documents and styled itself as "Sewanee: The University of the South". Version three of the university's style guide, a document reflecting the official policies of the university with respect to its public image following the name change, stated in part:
A minor scandal ensued, with more conservative commentators insinuating that the change was intended to "distance" the university from its historic association with Southern culture. "Some alumni were also angered by a report commissioned by the university last year by a marketing firm from Chicago that said that the word 'South' often had negative connotations for students around the country; the weaker the connection between the South and the university's name, the better, the consultants said." As of February 2016, the university has reverted to using the University of the South as its official name on all correspondence.

2018 Charlie Rose controversy

In the wake of several women coming forward with allegations of sexual harassment against television personality Charlie Rose, many educational institutions revoked honorary degrees bestowed on him. Sewanee's board of regents initially declined to do so, citing a desire to "not condemn the individual". However, due to backlash from student members of the board of trustees and faculty in the university's school of theology, the board of regents reversed their original decision and rescinded Rose's honorary doctorate.

Ties to slavery and the Roberson Project

In September 2020, the university's governing board released a statement acknowledging for the first time that the university "was long entangled with, and played a role in, slavery, racial segregation, and white supremacy". It added that the university "categorically rejects its past veneration of the Confederacy and of the 'Lost Cause' and wholeheartedly commits itself to an urgent process of institutional reckoning...". The university announced that it will utilize the findings of its Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation to guide their current discussions and path forward.

Academics

Sewanee offers bachelor's degrees in arts and sciences as well as advanced degrees in its two graduate schools, the School of Theology and the School of Letters. Its most popular undergraduate majors, by 2021 graduates, were:
  • Economics
  • Psychology
  • Political Science & Government
  • Biology/Biological Sciences
  • English Language & Literature
  • History
  • International/Globalization Studies

    Campus

The Sewanee campus overlooks the Tennessee Valley and consists of 13,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau. It includes many buildings constructed of various materials faced with local stone, most done in the Gothic style. In 2011, it was named by Travel + Leisure as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.
  • All Saints' Chapel was originally designed by Ralph Adams Cram and began construction in 1904, but the Panic of 1907 left the university without the funds to complete it. It was completed in 1959 to a design by Vice-Chancellor Edward McCrady. McCrady was also responsible for the connection of the buildings of the original quadrangle with cloisters. The final window was installed in 2004, nearly 100 years after construction began on the chapel.
  • St. Luke's Chapel, designed by the architect Charles C. Haight and built in 1904, is one of three chapels on the campus. St. Luke's is located next to St. Luke's Hall which formerly housed the School of Theology. The chapel itself is used in various capacities over the academic year, including hosting services in the Taizé style of worship.
  • The Fowler Center is located on Texas Avenue and is the recreation center for the university. It houses swimming pools, basketball courts, tennis courts, a running track, and weight rooms and group exercise rooms. Many of the trophies from Sewanee's athletic history are also located in this building.
  • The duPont Library first opened in 1965. It hosts around 750,000 printed volumes. Special features of the duPont Library include: the Theology Library, the William Ralston Listening Library & Archive, and the Cup and Gown Café.
  • The Chapel of the Apostles was designed by the Arkansas architectural firm of E. Fay Jones and Maurice J. Jennings for the School of Theology and was dedicated and consecratd in October 2000. Primarily used as the worship center for the School of Theology, the chapel hosts services Monday through Friday during sessions. The Daily Office is prayed daily along with celebrations of the Eucharist.
  • Sewanee has 19 traditional dormitories, each housing a mix of students from all class years. Theme housing, consisting of small living units focused on a common interest such as a foreign language, is also available. Ninety-nine percent of Sewanee students live in campus housing.
  • The School of Theology is located on Tennessee Avenue near Gorgas and Quintard residence halls and houses the School of Theology, its faculty, its classrooms, and the Beecken Center, and administrative offices for the Education for Ministry program. Prior to 1981, the building housed the Sewanee Academy, now part of St. Andrew's-Sewanee School nearby.
  • Spencer Hall houses the chemistry, biology, and biochemistry departments, as well as components of environmental science. Its completion in late August 2008 provided an additional to the existing Woods Lab science building. Sustainable building practices and technology were incorporated into Spencer Hall.
  • Snowden Hall houses the Department of Forestry and Geology and components of environmental science. A new addition and remodeling of the building was completed in 2010, making this the university's first LEED Gold–certified building. of solar panels provide about a third of the building's electricity needs, and a bioswale filters runoff from the roof top.
  • Gailor Hall, originally constructed to serve as the university's dining hall and another dormitory, now houses the english and foreign language departments, as well as the Roberson Project offices.
  • The Tennessee Williams Center is the home of the Department of Theatre and Dance.