Southern Adventist University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Collegedale, Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the Southern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It was founded in 1892 in Graysville, Tennessee, as Graysville Academy and was the first Adventist school in the southern U.S. Due to the need for additional space for expansion the school relocated in 1916 and was renamed Southern Junior College. In 1944, Southern began awarding baccalaureate degrees and was renamed Southern Missionary College. In 1996 the institution started conferring master's degrees and adopted its current name.
Southern offers associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. The university and its programs are accredited by multiple organizations including the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its Institute of Archaeology offers an undergraduate degree in biblical archaeology; Southern is one of only two schools which offer the degree. It is known for its emphasis on Adventist beliefs and conservative religious and social practices, and is considered the most conservative of the Seventh-day Adventist schools in North America. The college operates a radio station (WSMC-FM), a health food store and a wellness center. Enrollment was 3,053 students in 2010, its highest level to date.
History Southern's roots stem from the establishment of Graysville Academy in Graysville, Tennessee, in 1892, in a part of the South much affected by the American Civil War. The area saw the battle of Chickamauga and the Chattanooga campaign, and was the staging ground for Sherman's Atlanta campaign. The academy was privately funded at first, with no financial support from the Adventist church.Pettibone, Dennis (1992) A Century of Challenge: The Story of Southern College 1892–1992, pp. 9–60 In 1897 it was renamed the Southern Industrial School and then Southern Training School in 1901. The school moved to the community of Thatcher's Switch in 1916, renaming it Collegedale. In 1943, Kenneth A. Wright became president of the school. During Wright's administration, Southern Junior College became accredited as a four-year college. A new name, Southern Missionary College, was adopted in 1944, and Southern granted its first baccalaureate degrees two years later. When the school became a university in 1996, the trustees voted on a new name: Southern Adventist University.
Graysville Academy, 1892–1897
The Graysville Seventh-day Adventist Church was organized on September 8, 1888, and by the fall of 1890, the members had dedicated a church building. R.M. Kilgore, former president of the Illinois Conference had been asked to supervise the church's work in the Southern United States. He had just moved to Graysville and was present for the church dedication. As the superintendent for the church's work in the South, Kilgore repeatedly advocated the establishment of a school.
Kilgore invited George W. Colcord (1843–1902), to come to Graysville and establish a school. Colcord was the founder of Milton Academy, which is the forerunner of Walla Walla University. The General Conference Education Secretary, W. W. Prescott, along with Kilgore and Colcord worked together to establish the school at Graysville. Colcord and his wife Ada began the school. The first term began in February, 1892, with 23 students. The second term began in September of that year. By January 1893 Colcord reported that 62 students were in attendance. By 1893 there were three full-time teachers and three part-time teachers. Prescott considered the positive attitude of the school's faculty, students and supporters to be indicators of the school's future success and good reason to start other such schools in the South.
During 1892, Colcord operated the school privately. At the session of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference held at Battle Creek, Michigan from February 17 to March 6, 1893, the church officially took over the school. This first school in the South inspired the session to recommend that other schools also be established.
In the fall of 1894, Graysville Academy faced a crisis. Fourteen of the members of the Graysville Church were indicted for having violated the Tennessee Sunday law. This included Colcord, his nephew, I. C. Colcord, and M. C. Sturdevant, manager of the boys' dormitory.
The church members found guilty refused to pay the fines, choosing to go to prison instead. The imprisonment of the school's leaders resulted in its immediate closing for the rest of the year. The students, some of whom were ready to graduate, returned to their homes.p.2
Southern Industrial School, 1897–1901 In November 1897, the district conference voted to change the school's name to Southern Industrial School. The name change reflected a change in the school's emphasis. Industries were established including a wagon and blacksmith shop, a broom shop, a printshop and a school farm. The farm grew peaches, pears and many types of berries and vegetables.
Southern Training School, 1901–1916 The Southern Union Conference was organized in April 1901. Kilgore, the superintendent of the Southern District, known as District 2, was elected the first president of the Southern Union Conference. The headquarters was in Graysville. The General Conference arranged for the Southern Union to take over the operation of the Southern Industrial School. The property was transferred to the Southern Union. They renamed the school the Southern Training School. It offered 14 grades of instruction. p.18
Southern Junior College, 1916–1945 Relocation
Eventually the Graysville school outgrew its site. Church leaders looked for a larger plot of land. They believed "that the only education worth while in these strenuous days is that practical kind which teaches the student to actually do with his hand the things he learns about in books." To provide for this practical concern, they found a larger property. Plans were made to relocate the college program to a farm at Thatcher's Switch east of Chattanooga. The move from Graysville to Thatcher's Switch involved moving most of the school's equipment, livestock, and implements to the new site fifty miles away. The school moved and opened in its new location by October, 1916. The community was soon renamed Collegedale and the school as Southern Junior College. The term training school had become associated with reform schools while at the same time the junior college designation had become a popular one.
Graysville Academy continued on at the original site as a church and conference-sponsored secondary boarding academy until 1938.
Pioneer years In 1916, the school's property holdings totaled $32,000. Two years later, due mainly to the construction of additional buildings on campus, the school's holdings increased to $113,000. Many students earned their tuition by helping to construct these buildings. Southern was financially supported by two union conferences of the Church's North American administration. The school organized construction bees. Interested church members came from across the South to help in these bees.
At first, the school taught only students in grades 1–12 with a total enrollment of 59 students. In 1918, three students were taking post-high school level classes. The total student enrollment at this time was 175.
Southern Junior College served two union conferences of Seventh-day Adventists, the Southern and the Southeastern. Later these two would be reorganized into one, the Southern Union Conference. In 1920, Lynn H. Wood, the president of the college, presented a major report to meetings for both union conferences. He reviewed the events of the first four years at the Ooltewah location.
According to Wood, enrollment grew quickly because of a tuition work program. Students of limited means realized they could get an education and improve themselves. This put a strain on housing. But the desire for an education motivated the students to cope with those early inadequate facilities, "Students have been willing to live in shacks and tents, to put up with all kinds of inconvenience, in order that they might receive the character development that the school had for them." Wood referred to these first few years as the "pioneer years." He wrote that the positive spiritual attitude of the students made these years the most enjoyable that one could wish for.
The college built the girls' dormitory first. The girls moved in before it was finished, even before there was any heating, doors or chairs. They used "curtains for doors, sat upon their trunks for chairs — any way to get along."
Faith community support The building of the boys' dormitory began in the summer of 1918. The students helped build it, and, in doing so, many earned their way through school. Shortly after the beginning of the school year in 1918, a "Workers' Bee" took place. Church workers from all across the South and from church headquarters in Washington, D.C. came to the college to build the boys' dormitory. For two and a half weeks they worked and associated with the students. They succeeded in putting up most of the framework.
Other help from the Adventist faith community included a $6,000 donation by the Southern Publishing Association for a water supply system and another "Working Bee" to build a large dairy barn, a blacksmith shop, and a corn crib. People interested in the college's success bought surrounding properties and donated them to the institution, more than doubling the school's area to close to . This allowed the school to protect itself from families moving so close that they hindered their young people attending from learning some independence, President Wood wrote. He encouraged families to send their young people to the school, and if the cost was too high for some of them, he advised that church leaders make sure they got the help they needed for their young people to attend and live in the dormitory.
Southern Missionary College, 1944–1982
In 1944, the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Spring Council voted for Southern to become a four-year college. The enrollment that first year was the highest ever to date, 436 students. The theology, teaching and pre-nursing departments had the highest enrollments. Industries that helped students earn their tuition included a wood shop, a broom factory, a printing press, and a farm. The name Southern Missionary College was chosen at a combined meeting of the members of the college board, the union educational board, and the college faculty.
Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists, 1982–1996 On July 1, 1982, the word "Missionary" was dropped from the school's name. The reported reasons for the change were that the general population reacted negatively to the term; foreign countries resisted accepting church workers who were from a "missionary" college; the name incorrectly identified the school as only a Bible college, rather than a fully accredited, four-year liberal arts institution; and, graduates found the name "missionary" made it more difficult for them to get a job. Southern was the last Adventist college in North America to retain "missionary" in its title. The others changed their names many years earlier."SMC to change name" (1982), p. 23
In their official announcement of the name change, the Board of Trustees of Southern Missionary College explained that a shorter name would help popularize it. They also stated that, "The word 'Southern' has been associated with the College since its beginning—Southern Industrial School, Southern Training School, Southern Junior College, Southern Missionary College, and now Southern College."
Early 1980s controversy