Virginia University of Lynchburg

Infobox University
name = Virginia University of Lynchburg
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motto = "Sibi Auxilium et Libertas"
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established = 1886
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type = Private, HBCU
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president = Ralph Reavis
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students = 257
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city = Lynchburg
state = Virginia
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United States
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campus = Suburban
former_names = Virginia Seminary
Virginia Theological Seminary and College
Virginia Seminary and College
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website = [http://vul.edu vul.edu]

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Virginia University of Lynchburg is a private, historically black university located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The university currently offers instruction and degrees, primarily in religious studies, including a Doctorate of Ministry program.

History

Virginia University of Lynchburg is the oldest school of higher learning in Lynchburg. The school was founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1888 by the Viginia Baptist State Convention as the coeducational "Lynchburg Baptist Seminary". Classes were first held in 1890 under the name Virginia Seminary. With the offering of a collegiate program in 1900, the name was again changed, to Virginia Theological Seminary and College. In 1962, the institution was re-named to the Virginia Seminary and College. Finally, in 1996, the school was given its current name.

Its first President was the Rev. Phillip F. Morris, pastor of Court Street Baptist Church in Lynchburg. Seeking a financial patron, Morris agreed to step down as president rather than yield to the demand of the American Baptist Home Mission Society that he step down from the pulpit to assume full-time leadership of the school. Rev. Morris would later serve as President of the National Baptist Convention. Rev. Gregory W. Hayes, a graduate of Oberlin College, assumed the full-time position as President in 1891, serving until his death in 1906. His wife, Mary Rice Hayes Allen, mulatto daughter of a Confederate general and mother of author Carrie Allen McCray, assumed the presidency until replaced by Dr. JRL Diggs in 1908.

During Hayes' administration, controversy arose between black separatists and accomodationists over the future of the school. The chief patron wished it to become a pre-collegiate manual training institution. Hayes, among the separatists, returned the patronage to retain and strengthen Black autonomy and academic integrity. This move eventually led to a schism within the National Baptist Convention.

External links

* [http://vul.edu vul.edu] Official web site
* [http://www.vernonjohns.org/tcal001/vjvasem.html From biography of Vernon Johns]
* [http://www.legacymuseum.org/Struggle/Public/VTS.htm From Legacy Museum online exhibit]

References