Lipscomb University is a Church of Christ-affiliated university in Nashville, Tennessee.

History

However, several prominent Church of Christ religious ministers received at least a portion of their higher education there. All university employees and faculty must prove their membership in a Church of Christ before being hired. David Lipscomb was a pacifist who was highly sceptical about government, but Lipscomb University has, with a few notable exceptions, largely strayed from this example. The campus grounds consist largely of the former estate of David Lipscomb, who donated it to the school.

Presidents

There have been 13 superintendents or presidents of Lipscomb over 17 administrations.

2005-Present Dr. L. Randolph Lowry, III

1997-2005 Dr. Steve Flatt

1987-1997 Dr. Harold Hazelip

1977-1986 G. Willard Collins

1946-1977 Dr. Athens Clay Pullias

1943-1946 Batsell Baxter

1934-1943 E. H. Ijams

1932-1934 Batsell Baxter

1923-1932 H. Leo Boles

1921-1923 H. S. Lipscomb

1920-1921 A. B. Lipscomb

1913-1920 H. Leo Boles

1913 J. S. Ward

1906-1913 E. A. Elam

1905-1906 J. S. Ward

1901-1905 William Anderson

1891-1901 James A. Harding

David Lipscomb and James A. Harding (cofounders, 1891) note: David Lipscomb never served as president, but as chairman of the board of trustees. James A. Harding served as the school's first superintendent.

Academics

The university has a wide range of academic programs, although there is an emphasis on education, biblical scholarship, and business. Aside from the interest in biblical scholarship, which is a traditional field of study at a liberal arts college, the emphasis on education and business has moved the school away from the liberal arts model. Many students are involved in pre-professional programs, notably pre-med and pre-law. Additionally, the Raymond B. Jones School of Engineering was accredited by ABET in August 2004. There is also an on-campus high school; the associated elementary school has been moved to a renovated former public school a few blocks away.

Campus information

The campus is located in the Green Hills suburbs of Nashville between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike on the east.

The center of the university, known as Bison Square, is located between the Student Center and the Willard Collins Alumni Auditorium. The bricked square is traditionally used during warm weather as the location for nightly devotionals, concerts, and other campus activities. Attached to Alumni Auditorium is the Burton Bible Building where Religious, Philosophical, Mass Communications, History and Political Science classes are held. To the south side of the Burton Bible Building is the Axel Swang Center where Business and English classes are held. Other academic buildings include the McFarland Hall of Sciences where the Science and Math classes are held.

Some academic buildings were built with public funds, and because Lipscomb is a thoroughly Christian school, this led to an extended lawsuit that made it to the Supreme Court. One of the stipulations for receiving public funding was that these buildings cannot have religious classes taught in them. For example, no Bible classes are taught in the McFarland Hall of Sciences, even though every professor who teaches in that building must adhere to the Creationist position as a prerequisite of employment. However the rule about excluding Bible classes does not apply to Ward Lecture auditorium, even though it is attached to McFarland Hall. Construction of Ward was funded through private donations.

Beaman Library was constructed in time for the university's centennial in 1991. The university's old library, the Crisman building, serves as the university's administrative building.

The university has five dormitories, segregated by gender. Women's dorms include Elam Hall, Fanning Hall, and Johnson Hall, all of which have a large enclosed courtyard. Men's dorms include Sewell Hall, which was renovated in the late 1990s, and the eight-story High Rise, the university's tallest structure. Men and women are not allowed in dorms belonging to the opposite gender, with a few exceptions: both genders can enter the lobby during certain hours, and during moving days and certain open dorm occasions, the genders can mix on the main floors of the dorms, though all doors must remain open.

Allen Arena, a 5,028-seat multipurpose facility, opened in October 2001 on the site of the old McQuiddy Gymnasium. The adjacent student recreational center kept the McQuiddy name. Yearwood Hall, a women's dormitory, was torn down for construction of Allen Arena and its accompanying parking garage.

Campus life

Lipscomb does not have fraternities and sororities per se. Rather they have social clubs which are localized only to Lipscomb and are not part of any national Greek system. The women's social clubs include Delta Xi, Delta Sigma, Gamma Lambda, Kappa Chi, Phi Sigma, and Pi Delta. Delta Nu, Delta Tau, Gamma Xi, Omega Nu, Sigma Omega Sigma, Sigma Iota Delta, and Tau Phi make up the Men's social clubs. Social club members participate in Singarama (an annual spring musical), as well as other entertainment, social, and service activities throughout the year. The university also offers membership in other academic, professional, and service clubs including Alpha Phi Chi men's service club, Pi Kappa Sigma women's service club, Alpha Chi National Honors Society, Sigma Tau Delta National English honor society, Circle K International, College Republicans, and College Democrats.

The Babbler is the weekly student newspaper. The title of the publication comes from Acts 17:18 which in part says "What does this babbler have to say?" The Backlog is the school's yearbook.

Rules

• Full-time students are required to attend both a Bible class and chapel services each school day. A generalized Bible class called "University Bible" is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Allen Arena for the entire full-time student body, fulfilling both these requirements. Chapel services are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in Allen Arena, and students take a traditional Bible class on those days as well. Students have a limited number of excused absences for chapel and university bible, and can be put on chapel probation if they exceed this number.

• There is a curfew for freshmen and sophomores living in the dorms, with detailed rules enforced by the head residents.

• No Lipscomb student is allowed to consume alcohol, on or off campus, though the extent to which this has been policed off campus has varied from dean to dean. The campus is a dry campus and students could be potentially suspended if alcohol is discovered on their person by a school staff member. Faculty and staff are also forbidden to drink alcohol. Smoking is disallowed on campus, but is permissible elsewhere.

• A ban on student facial hair was lifted during the 1986-1987 school year.

• Premarital and extramarital sexual relations are disallowed for students, faculty, and administration. Homosexual acts are forbidden and have resulted in student, faculty, and/or staff dismissal.

• Potential professors must prove that they are members of the Church of Christ as a prerequisite of employment, and they must demonstrate and maintain denominational affiliation with the Churches of Christ throughout their tenure at Lipscomb University. Even tenured professors whose churches have been deemed by the administration to be insufficiently rooted in traditional Church of Christ doctrine (e.g. exclusive use of A capella music) have been dismissed from their positions.

Study Abroad

Lipscomb offers a handful of study abroad programs. In the mid 1990s a study abroad program in Vienna, Austria was first offered. Programs in London, Great Britain and Athens, Greece have since been added.

Sports information

Sports teams are nicknamed the Bisons, and there is a large statue of the namesake animal centrally located on the campus. At one time the school was a small-college sports powerhouse, notably in baseball and basketball in the NAIA; now it is a new member of NCAA Division I and competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The university has an ongoing sports rivalry with Belmont University, just 3 miles down the road from Lipscomb. Traditionally basketball games between the two schools are called the Battle of the Boulevard.

In 2006, the rivalry reached a new level when Belmont and Lipscomb advanced to the finals of the Atlantic Sun tournament at the Memorial Center in Johnson City, Tennessee, with the winner earning its first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament. Belmont won 74-69 in overtime. Lipscomb was invited to the National Invitation Tournament as the regular-season conference champion, losing in its first game.

Notable alumni

• Pat Boone
• B.C. Goodpasture
• Jim Jinkins ('75) - creator of the animated Doug series.
• LaMar Baker, politician
• Marty Roe - lead singer of the Country Music band Diamond Rio.
• Michael F. Adams, circa 1969, president of the University of Georgia

External links

• Lipscomb University website
• Lipscomb Sports - Official Sports Website of the University
• Lipscomb Underground- a student-led discussion about the university

Universities and colleges in Nashville | Universities and colleges in Tennessee | Universities and colleges affiliated with the Church of Christ