Former names | Pine Grove Normal Academy (1876–1884) |
---|---|
Motto | Lux Mea (Latin) |
Motto in English | My Light [1] |
Type | Private Christian liberal arts college |
Established | 1876 |
Religious affiliation | Nondenominational; formerly informally affiliated with Presbyterian Church (USA) |
Endowment | $125.6 million [2] |
President | Paul McNulty |
Academic staff | 150 [2] |
Undergraduates | 2,400 [2] |
Location | , U.S. 41°9′22″N80°4′48″W / 41.15611°N 80.08000°W |
Campus | Rural 180 acres (0.28 sq mi) [3] |
Colors | Crimson and white |
Nickname | Wolverines |
Sporting affiliations | |
Mascot | Willie the Wolverine |
Website | www |
Grove City College (GCC) is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts college [4] [5] in Grove City, Pennsylvania, United States. [6] Founded in 1876 as a normal school, the college emphasizes a humanities core curriculum and offers 60 majors and six pre-professional programs with undergraduate degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, business, education, engineering, and music. [7] [2] The college has always been formally non-denominational, but in its first few decades its students and faculty were dominated by members of the Presbyterian Church, to the extent that it was sometimes described as having a de facto Presbyterian affiliation; in more recent decades, it and the Presbyterian Church have moved apart. [8]
Founded in 1876 by Isaac C. Ketler, [9] the school was originally chartered as Pine Grove Normal Academy. It had twenty-six students in its first year. In 1884, the trustees of Pine Grove Normal Academy in Grove City amended the academy charter to change the name to Grove City College. [10] By charter, the doors of the College were open to qualified students "without regard to religious test or belief." Isaac Ketler served as president until 1913. [11]
Grove City was also supported by Joseph Newton Pew, founder of the Sun Oil Company. Pew and Ketler's sons, Weir C. Ketler and John Howard Pew, later went on to become Grove City president and president of the board of trustees, respectively. [12] [13] During the summer of 1925, J. Gresham Machen gave the lectures that formed the basis of his book, What Is Faith? [14]
As World War II began, Grove City College was one of six schools selected by the United States Navy to participate in the highly unusual Electronics Training Program (ETP). Starting in March 1942, each month a new group of 100 Navy and Marine students arrived for three months of 14-hour days in concentrated electrical engineering study. ETP admission required passing the Eddy Test, one of the most selective qualifying exams given during the war years. [15] Professor Russell P. Smith was the program's Director of Instruction. By the fall of 1943, there were only 81 civilian men in the student body; thus, the presence of 300 or so servicemen contributed greatly to sustaining the College. This training at Grove City continued until April 1945; library records show that 49 classes were graduating 3,759 persons. [16] [17]
Under President Charles S. MacKenzie, the college was the plaintiff-appellee in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in 1984, Grove City College v. Bell. The ruling came seven years after the school refused to sign a Title IX compliance form, which would have subjected the entire school to federal regulations, even ones not yet issued. The court ruled 6–3 that acceptance by students of federal educational grants fell under the regulatory requirements of Title IX, but it limited the application to the school's financial aid department.
In 1988, new legislation subjected every department of any educational institution that received federal funding to Title IX requirements. In response, Grove City College withdrew from the Pell Grant program entirely beginning with the 1988–1989 academic year, replacing such grants to students with its own program, the Student Freedom Fund. [18] In October 1996, the college withdrew from the Stafford Loan program, providing entering students with replacements through a program with PNC Bank. [19]
Grove City is one of a handful of colleges (along with Hillsdale College, which did likewise after the aforementioned 1984 case [19] ) that does not allow its students to accept federal financial aid of any kind, including grants, loans, and scholarships. [20]
From 1963 until 2016, the American Association of University Professors placed Grove City under censure for violations of tenure and academic freedom because of the dismissal of Professor of History and Political Science Larry Gara, at the direct behest of the then Chairman of the Board, J. Howard Pews. [21] [22] By the end of this period, Grove City's administration was on the AAUP's list of censured administrations longer than any other college on the list. In its report, the AAUP Investigative Committee at Grove City concluded that "the absence of due process [in the dismissal of professors at Grove City] raises... doubts regarding the academic security of any persons who may hold an appointment at Grove City College under existing administrative practice. These doubts are of an order of magnitude which obliges us to report them to the academic profession at large." In 2013 Grove City started working to remove itself from the censure list. Two years later, the school admitted that they would have handled Gara's case rather differently under their current procedures. This led the AAUP to lift its sanction on the school at its annual meeting in 2016. [23] [24] [25] Gara received an apology from the school in October 2015. [26]
In 2005, Grove City founded the conservative think-tank the Center for Vision and Values [27] In April 2019, it was renamed the Institute for Faith & Freedom, saying that it "more clearly aligns it with the historic values of the College." [28]
In recent years, the college has engaged in many new construction projects, including an expansion to its music and arts center in 2002, a new academic building in 2003, a new student union/bookstore in 2004, and new apartment-style housing in 2006. Grove City's Student Union building was honored with the International Masonry Institute's Golden Trowel Grand Prize for excellence in masonry design and construction in 2005. [29] [30] On February 9, 2011, Grove City College announced that it would break ground for construction of a science, engineering, and mathematics building – key components of Grove City Matters: A Campaign to Advance Grove City College, which at $90 million is the largest capital campaign in the college's history. The $37.2 million science, engineering, and mathematics building is designed to support new modes of teaching, particularly flexible laboratories and small-group interactions. "It will help ensure that Grove City College continues to prepare students for future careers in an increasingly competitive workforce", officials said. [31] STEM Hall was opened in August 2013 and provides laboratory space for students studying biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science. [32] In the summer of 2021, Grove City announced that the campus' Henry Buhl Library would be majorly renovated, with the addition of classroom space, updated study areas, and a cafe. [33]
The college acquired an observatory from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in February 2008 that will be used for astronomy classes as well as faculty and student research. The observatory's telescope will be operated remotely, from the college's main campus – more than 60 miles (97 km) away. The purchase of the property, three buildings, and equipment inside will pave the way for the addition of an astronomy minor on campus. Through this observatory, the college's physics department plans to work with area public schools as well as other colleges and universities on educational and research projects and draw prospective students who are looking for strong physics programs and astronomy coursework. [34]
Grove City offers 55 majors in the liberal arts, sciences, and engineering. [35] The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. [36] The college's electrical and computer and mechanical engineering programs are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET). [37] Most recently, the Bachelor of Science in Social Work program was approved as a candidate for accreditation through the specialized accreditation offered through the Council on Social Work Education. In 2019, Grove City announced a new partnership with Butler County Community College to provide a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. [38]
Many students choose Grove City explicitly for its Christian environment and traditional Humanities curriculum. [ citation needed ] A three-year required Humanities sequence focuses on the origin, development, and implications of civilization's seminal ideas and worldviews. The courses cover content that includes religion, philosophy, history and philosophy of science, literature, art and music. [35] Because of its strong adherence to freedom and minimal government interference, Grove City College is considered to be one of America's foremost colleges that teach the ideas of the Austrian School of Economics. [39] The post-1938 personal papers of Ludwig Von Mises, are housed in the archive of Grove City College. [40] Grove City College also hosts the Austrian Student Scholars Conference. Annually done in February, a collection of students from around the United States present research papers on the history of economic thought or on current developments within the Austrian School of Thought. [41] In addition to traditional business programs, Grove City also offers a degree in Entrepreneurship and a degree in Business Economics. [42]
Grove City College was ranked 225 of 498 in 2023 Forbes list of Top Colleges, and 4 of 41 in their Region in 2024 U.S. News & World Report Rankings.
Academic rankings | |
---|---|
Regional | |
U.S. News & World Report [43] | 4 of 41 |
National | |
Forbes [44] | 225 of 500 |
Although it is a small liberal arts college, Grove City's faculty and administrators significantly influence and impact the ideas of various think tanks around the USA, especially on issues involving the environment, education, minimum wage, and other issues economic and conservative. [45] Grove City College has international ties, founded in 1955, and on the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) Freedom Network.
The National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise [46] an organization that seeks to provide effective community and faith-based organizations with training and technical assistance, links them to sources of support, and evaluates their experience for public policy to address the problems of youth violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, homelessness, joblessness, poor education, and deteriorating neighborhoods, publicizes events held at Grove City College.[ citation needed ]
The Lone Mountain Coalition, part of the Property and Environment Research Center, [47] which claims to be "America's oldest and largest institute dedicated to original research that brings market principles to resolving environmental problems", has ties to Grove City through Michael Coulter, Vice-President of the Shenango Institute for Public Policy, and associate professor of political science at Grove City College.[ citation needed ]
Several members of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a libertarian academic organization, are also faculty at Grove City.[ citation needed ]
Grove City also has ties to Michigan through Lawrence W. (Larry) Reed, president of Michigan's Mackinac Center for Public Policy. [48] Reed received his B.A. in Economics from Grove City in 1975. Reed is also past president of the State Policy Network. [49]
The Academic Advisory Committee of the John Locke Foundation, a free market think tank in North Carolina, which supports the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation, includes Walter E. Williams, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University, holder of a Doctor of Humane Letters from Grove City College and John Moore, Former President of Grove City College, who led the college through its withdrawal from federal student loan programs, which completed the college's break from federal ties.[ citation needed ]
When it opened, Grove City College was one of the first institutions of higher learning in the United States to admit both male and female students. The school maintains a one-to-one ratio of men to women, ensuring that the student body is approximately 50% men and 50% women. [50]
Grove City College adopts a strong policy regarding alcohol use on campus, with first-time offenders receiving a one-week suspension from all activities. Legal-age students are permitted to consume alcohol off campus, provided that they do not appear inebriated upon their return. Student organizations must agree to a strong policy regarding alcohol use both on and off campus, and their violation resulting in the loss of their charter. [51]
In 2012, The Princeton Review listed Grove City College as the 2nd most LGBT-unfriendly school in the United States. [52] In 2013 Grove City was at #1 in the Princeton Review’s rankings of most LGBT-unfriendly schools in America. [53] As of 2016, they were ranked 9th. [54]
By refusing to accept federal funds and Title IV financial aid (from the Higher Education Act of 1965), Grove City is not required to adhere to various federal guidelines that (i) prevent sex-based and many other forms of discrimination (e.g., Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972), (ii) regulate investigations into accusations of sexual abuse, (iii) require the collecting and sharing of information about crimes on campus (Clery Act), and (iv) set standards for disciplinary proceedings (Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act). [55]
Grove City College has always been officially non-denominational, but in its first decades had a de facto affiliation with the Presbyterian Church; today, it is no longer tied to a particular Christian denomination. The Department of Biblical & Religious Studies is composed of confessionally Reformed professors from various denominational backgrounds. Students are required to attend a certain number of chapel services per semester. That was also the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. [56]
Harbison Chapel has been a longstanding campus facility for Christian services. In 2012, Rathburn Hall was built to function as an office space for chapel staff, meeting space for religious groups, and a lounge area for visiting speakers. [57]
GCC hosts approximately 150 Student Organizations and Activities. [58]
The Grove City College Journal of Law & Public Policy was founded in 2009 and features writing about political theory, jurisprudence, and Austrian economics. [59] Grove City College is one of five undergraduate institutions to publish a law journal.
Other periodicals are The Bridge (the college yearbook), The Collegian (the campus newspaper), Cogitare (associated with ISI), and The Quad (a literary magazine).[ citation needed ]
The 1,600-watt FM signal covers a 30 mi radius in Western Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts fine arts programming, college football and basketball games. It also airs community events and high school sports. Students host shows during the evening hours when school is in session.
Members of fraternities and sororities live on campus in pre-selected upperclassman halls. Grove City's fraternities and sororities are local and are not affiliated with any of the national Greek umbrella organizations. [60]
Grove City has been fielding athletics teams for over a century. In 1906, they were one of the 39 charter members of the IAAUS, the forerunner of the NCAA. [61]
Grove City College, known athletically as the Wolverines, competes in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) of NCAA Division III. On the varsity level, Grove City College has basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, cheerleading, swimming, tennis, and track teams for both men and women. Lacrosse, baseball, rugby union and football are varsity sports available to men only, while softball and water polo are varsity sports offered to women only.[ citation needed ]
Grove City also offers several club sports to men and women including but not limited to ultimate, volleyball for men and field hockey, lacrosse, and rugby for women. These teams have been very successful, most notably the men's club volleyball team, which has finished in the top 10 in the country each of the last two years, the men's lacrosse team, which finished in the top 10 in the country in 2015, and both the men's and women's rugby teams which have been ranked in the top 10 in the country by the National Small College Rugby Organization. Men's volleyball will be elevated to full varsity status in 2024–25. [62]
Intramural sports for men are as follows: basketball, bowling, dodgeball, football, soccer, softball, table tennis, tennis, ultimate, and volleyball. Women have badminton, basketball, bowling, flag football, indoor soccer, kickball, racquetball, ultimate, and volleyball.
In 2018, the school's assistant sports information director was charged with nearly 100 counts for crimes ranging from privacy violations to possession of child pornography after it was discovered he had been secretly recording students who were showering in the college's locker room. [63] [64] [65]
Drexel University is a private space-grant research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry, it was renamed Drexel Institute of Technology in 1936, before assuming its current name in 1970. As of 2020, more than 24,000 students were enrolled in over 70 undergraduate programs and more than 100 master's, doctoral, and professional programs at the university.
Brigham Young University (BYU) is a private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Antioch University is a private university with multiple campuses in the United States and online programs. It is the offshoot of Antioch College, which was founded in 1852. Antioch College's first president was politician, abolitionist, and education reformer Horace Mann. In 1977, the College network was re-incorporated as Antioch University to reflect its growth across the country into numerous graduate education programs. It operates four campuses located in three states, as well as an online division and the Graduate School of Leadership and Change. All campuses of the university are regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of the Cumberlands is a private Christian university in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Over 20,000 students are enrolled at the university.
Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. PLU has approximately 2,700 students enrolled. As of 2023, the school employs approximately 238 full-time professors on the 156-acre (63 ha) woodland campus.
Felician University is a private Catholic university with two campuses in New Jersey, one in Lodi and one in Rutherford. It was founded as the Immaculate Conception Normal School by the Felician Sisters in 1923 and the school has changed names several times in its history, most recently in 2015 to Felician University. In 2016-17 enrollment was 1,996, with undergraduates comprising around 1,626 students; 21 percent were men and 79 percent were women.
Bastyr University is a private alternative medicine university with campuses in Kenmore, Washington, and San Diego, California. Programs include naturopathy, acupuncture, Traditional Asian medicine, nutrition, herbal medicine, ayurvedic medicine, psychology, and midwifery.
Messiah University is a private interdenominational evangelical Christian university in Upper Allen Township, Pennsylvania, near Mechanicsburg.
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is a public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly Southeastern Massachusetts University, it was merged into the University of Massachusetts system in 1991.
Linfield University is a private liberal arts college with campuses in McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participate in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Linfield reported a total of 1,755 students after the fall 2022 census date. The institution officially changed its name from Linfield College to Linfield University, effective July 1, 2020.
Medaille University was a private college in Buffalo, New York. The Sisters of St. Joseph founded Medaille in 1937, naming it after their founder, Jean Paul Médaille. It later became nonsectarian and coeducational. The college served roughly 1,600 students, mainly from Western New York and Southern Ontario, during its final years.
Collin College is a public community college district in Texas. Established in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 58,800 credit and noncredit students.
The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is the only pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Established in 1887 as a graduate and research center following approval by Pope Leo XIII, the university began offering undergraduate education in 1904. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.
Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) is a private nondenominational Christian university in West Palm Beach, Florida. The university's nine colleges focus on the liberal arts with a select collection of professional studies. In 2023, its undergraduate enrollment was approximately 2,400.
George Henry Brimhall was president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1904 to 1921. After graduating from Brigham Young Academy (BYA), Brimhall served as principal of Spanish Fork schools and then as district superintendent of Utah County schools, finally returning to BYU. In April 1904, Brimhall became president of the school, which had become BYU in October 1903. As president of BYU, Brimhall helped institute the collegiate program, departments for specific subjects, and an emphasis on religious learning.
Benjamin Joseph Allen is an American academic who served as president of the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) from 2006 to 2013. It was announced on March 24, 2017 that Allen would begin serving as interim president for Iowa State University on May 9 after former president Steven Leath announced he would be leaving for Auburn University.
Academic freedom at Brigham Young University (BYU) has been the subject of several controversies, mostly focusing on its religious nature. In 1992, BYU issued a statement limiting academic freedom in certain areas, including language that attacked the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and language that violates the university's honor code.
Isaac C. Ketler (1853–1913) was the co-founder and first president of Grove City College, a Presbyterian college in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
The 1911 modernism controversy at Brigham Young University was an episode involving four professors at Brigham Young University (BYU), who between 1908 and 1911 widely taught evolution and higher criticism of the Bible, arguing that modern scientific thought was compatible with Christian and Mormon theology. The professors were popular among students and the community but their teachings concerned administrators, and drew complaints from stake presidents, eventually resulting in the resignation of all four faculty members, an event that "leveled a serious blow to the academic reputation of Brigham Young University—one from which the Mormon school did not fully recover until successive presidential administrations."
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)