Bluefield State University is a publichistorically black university (HBCU) in Bluefield, West Virginia. Despite being an HBCU, Bluefield's undergraduate student body is now over 80% white. The university is part of West Virginia's public university education system.
The Bluefield Colored Institute was founded in 1895 as a "high-graded school" for African Americans.[5] At that time, the West Virginia Constitution prohibited racially integrated public education. Bluefield was within 100 miles of 70% of the state’s African American residents. The school was located on a steep four-acre (0.0016 km2) site to the north side of the Norfolk & Western railroad tracks.
Principal Hamilton Hatter supervised the first class of 40 pupils. Nathan Cook Brackett, an Abolitionist and first president of Storer College, served as president of the board of regents.[6] Hatter oversaw the construction of Mahood Hall, the administrative building, as well as dormitories Lewis Hall and West Hall. Mahood Hall was named for State Senator William Mahood (R-Mercer County), who wrote the institute's sponsoring legislation.
In 1906, Hatter was succeeded by Robert P. Sims, who would lead the institute, then college, for three decades. In 1909, the institute became a normal school, adding the training of teachers to its curriculum. By 1920, enrollment climbed to 235, with summer sessions for teacher certification adding hundreds more. Campus growth followed enrollment gains, expanding to 23 acres and the addition of Payne and Conley Halls. Enrollment grew to more than six hundred on its "terraced hills."[citation needed]
The President's House, later renamed Hatter Hall, was built in 1930 and added to the National Register of Historic Places.[7]
In 1932, the State of West Virginia recognized the Institute's success, accredited its education curriculum, and changed its name to Bluefield State Teachers College.
Sims' successor, Henry Dickason, was an institute alumnus and president from 1936 to 1952. In 1943, the state again accredited an expanded curriculum and renamed the school Bluefield State College.
During the late 1960s, black students protested that the state was transforming the school from a traditional black college to a white commuter college. One of the allegations made was that black faculty and staff were being fired and replaced by less qualified white personnel.[citation needed] On November 21, 1968, the racial tensions culminated in the bombing of the gymnasium. A $5,000 reward was offered by Governor Hulett C. Smith. Ironically, the administration responded by immediately closing the dormitories, which housed a significant percentage of the college's out-of-state black student population, hastening the transition to a predominantly white college.[8]
Neither the city nor the college were isolated from the demonstrations and demands for civil rights that dominated much of the 1960s. African American students protested that the school administration was working actively to transform Bluefield State from a historic black residential college to a commuter college comprised predominantly of white students.[citation needed] Tension persisted, and on November 21, 1968, a bomb exploded in the gymnasium. No one was injured, but the damage was extensive. A $5,000 reward was offered by Governor Hulett C. Smith. College president Wendell Hardway responded by closing all dormitories immediately and permanently. Students returning from Thanksgiving break found themselves locked out. The actions accelerated the college’s transition to a majority white student body.[9][10][11][12]
Despite these changes, overall enrollment remained strong through the succeeding decades. In 2003, the West Virginia Legislature created a community college system offering two-year degrees at new institutions across the state. Among them was New River Community and Technical College. Bluefield State was required to transfer all its two-year programs, except engineering and nursing, to New River. This resulted in losing approximately half of the college's enrollment.[13] The succeeding years were of slow decline, with occasional calls from state legislators to merge the college with nearby Concord University.
In 2019, the board of trustees hired former West Liberty University president Robin Capehart as interim president.[14] Later that year, Capehart and Governor Jim Justice announced the return to a residential campus with the groundbreaking for the first residence hall since the 1960s.
In 2021, Bluefield State acquired the former Bluefield Regional Medical Center property, adding 68 acres to the campus and renamed the student facility Medical Education Center. Former patient rooms were converted to residences; a cafeteria and lounge areas were built in time for the 2021–22 school year. Enrollment continued to grow during that time.[15]
In 2022, the state's Higher Education Planning Commission approved the college's first master's degree program, a Master of Business Administration, and renamed the institution Bluefield State University.[16][17]
The university garnered national attention in 2022 after the university suspended the faculty senate and created a new review system for tenured faculty members; this was quickly followed by a vote of no confidence by the university's faculty. This prompted an investigation by the university's accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), in September 2023. The commission's peer review team reported that the president and board of governors "do not operate with integrity in several academic and human resources functions," including accusations that the university president hired several faculty members without input from university faculty, that the president fired a staff member following their meeting with the peer review team, and that the university's governing board were "not making decisions in the best interest of the university". President Capehart resigned shortly after the report was delivered to the university.[18] The HLC peer review team also recommended that the commission require the university to provide additional information to justify their accreditation.[19]
Academics
The university is organized into six colleges/schools:
College of Arts and Sciences
W. Paul Cole, Jr. School of Business
College of Engineering Technology
College of Health Sciences
School of Criminal Justice
School of Education
2022 student body racial composition
Category
Percent
White
75.9%
Black
20.1%
Hispanic
2.1%
*Other
1.1%
Non-Resident Alien
0.7%
*Note: This racial-ethnic group includes Asian, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and other racial or ethnic categories not explicitly listed in the table.
As of the 2022–2023 school year, the student body is 59.3% female and 40.6% male.[20]
Student life
Bluefield State became a residential university in 2021 for the first time since 1968.
Athletics
Bluefield State athletic teams are the Big Blue. There are 21 intercollegiate varsity sports and many intramural sports.[21]
In 2020, President Capehart announced the return of football to the athletics program for the first time since 1980. Eleven new sports were added as well.[22]
History
Sports have a prominent place in Bluefield State's past and recent history. Teams competed in the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association—now the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA)—from 1932 to 1955. In 1955, the college joined the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) and remained there until its dissolution in 2013. It competed as an Independent until 2023 when it was re-admitted into the CIAA.
The archives of the WVIAC are housed at Bluefield State’s Jefferson Library.
In 1927 and 1928, football teams (then the "Blue Devils") won Negro College Athletic Association national championships as announced by the Pittsburgh Courier. In 2020, football began its return to campus with the hiring of head coach Tony Coaxum. In 2021, the team played its first games in 41 years and finished the season with a 4–3 record. In 2022, the team played its second season as an independent and finished 4–4. In 2023, the Big Blue competed in the CIAA for the first time in 70 years against other historically black colleges and universities.[23]
Men and women's basketball teams competed in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) from 1955 until its dissolution in 2013. The men’s teams were tournament finalists in 1987 and 1988. The women's teams won conference titles in 1985, 1987, 1990 and 1993. Additionally, they won tournament titles in 1985 and 1993 and were finalists in 1986, 1989, 1992 and 1994.
The men's golf team won a WVIAC championship in 2011. In 2021, it won the USCAA national championship.
The men's tennis team won a WVIAC championship in 2012. It won a NCAA Regional championship in 2021 and competed in the Division II Finals for the first time.
The women's volleyball team won the USCAA championship in 2022.
The men's and women's track & field teams both won the USCAA championship in 2023.
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, whose member institutions consist entirely of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) was a collegiate athletic conference which historically operated exclusively in the state of West Virginia, but briefly had one Kentucky member in its early years, and expanded into Pennsylvania in its final years. It participated in the Division II ranks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), originally affiliated in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) until 1995, but held its final athletic competitions in spring 2013, and officially disbanded on September 1 of that year. Its football-playing members announced in June 2012 that they planned to withdraw to form a new Division II conference at the end of the 2012–13 season; this led to a chain of conference moves that saw all but one of the WVIAC's members find new conference homes.
Seton Hill University is a private Catholic university in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Originally a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002 and enrolls about 2,200 students.
Iowa Wesleyan University was a private university in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States. It was Iowa's first co-educational institution of higher learning and the oldest of its type west of the Mississippi River. The institution was affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It closed at the end of the 2022–23 academic year due to financial challenges.
Oakwood University is a private, historically black Seventh-day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama. It is the only HBCU owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
West Virginia University Institute of Technology is a public college in Beckley, West Virginia. It is a divisional campus of West Virginia University.
Mountain State University (MSU) was a private university in Beckley, West Virginia. It closed in 2013. It was formerly named Beckley College and then The College of West Virginia.
West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities established by the second Morrill Act of 1890, which evolved as a diverse and inclusive campus. Following desegregation, WVSU's student population slowly became more white than black. As of 2017, WVSU's student body was 75% white and only 8% African-American.
Salem University is a private for-profit university in Salem, West Virginia. It has about 250 students on campus and about 600 online students that are enrolled in undergraduate as well as graduate programs. The university was founded by the Seventh Day Baptist Church in 1888.
West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 900 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is currently affiliated with the United Methodist Church. West Virginia Wesleyan College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Bluefield University is a private Baptist university in Bluefield, Virginia. It offers 22 majors and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The 82-acre (330,000 m2) campus is about 150 ft (46 m) from the state line between Virginia and West Virginia. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Bluefield University merged with Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine medical school system located at the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Claflin University is a private historically black university in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Founded in 1869 after the American Civil War by northern missionaries for the education of freedmen and their children, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees.
Virginia University of Lynchburg (VUL) is a private historically black Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The university is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools and offers instruction and degrees, primarily in religious studies, including a Doctorate of Ministry program. The campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 national championships and 2 national invitationals annually.
The West Virginia State Yellow Jackets are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia State University, located in Institute, West Virginia, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Yellow Jackets compete as members of the Mountain East Conference for all ten varsity sports. West Virginia State was a founding member of the conference following the demise of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2013. WVSU's main rival is the University of Charleston (WV).
Ohio Valley University was a private Christian college located between Parkersburg and Vienna in West Virginia. Founded in 1958, the school integrated education with teachings of the Christian faith. The college was physically located on two separate campuses totalling 267 acres (108 ha). At one time, OVU offered bachelor's degrees in more than 30 different subject areas, but scaled back its academic options as enrollment numbers and financial stability dropped significantly. The college was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, and was placed under academic probation in 2020 by the Higher Learning Commission due to ongoing long-term financial struggles. In December 2021, the OVU Board of Directors voted to close the college after the Fall 2021 semester. The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission voted to revoke OVU's authority to grant degrees shortly thereafter. Seniors were allowed to finish their degrees without the loss of any credit hours in the spring semester of 2022 at several other institutions of higher education related to Churches of Christ through "teach out" agreements.
The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 11 schools, mostly in West Virginia with other members in Maryland and Ohio.
Harry Rupert "Big Jeff" Jefferson was an American football, basketball, and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Wilberforce University (1923), Bluefield State College, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (1930–1931), Virginia State University (1934–1948), Hampton University (1949–1959), compiling a career college football coaching record of 173–92–25. Jefferson led his teams to black college football national championships in 1927, 1928, and 1936. Jefferson was the first chairman and charter member of the National Athletic Steering Committee (NASC) in 1951. Later, Jefferson served as president of the NASC in 1957 and was honorary president in 1959. Jefferson was also honored by the NASC in 1958 for 35 years "contributed to the development of youth through athletic coaching and administration." Jefferson was also the first commissioner of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) in 1961. In college, he was a founding member of the Phi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha at Ohio University. Jefferson died of a heart attack, on April 24, 1966, at Mercy Douglas Hospital in Philadelphia. His funeral was held at Arlington National Cemetery.
The 1931 Marshall Thundering Herd football team was an American football team that represented Marshall College as a member of the West Virginia Athletic Conference during the 1931 college football season. In its first season under head coach Tom Dandelet, the Thundering Herd compiled a 6–3 record, won the WVAC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 214 to 84. Ramey Hunter was the team captain.
The 1926 Marshall Thundering Herd football team was an American football team that represented Marshall College in the West Virginia Athletic Conference during the 1926 college football season. In its second season under head coach Charles Tallman, the team compiled a 5–4–1 record, 3–1 against conference opponents, and outscored opponents by a total of 150 to 99.
↑ Ambler, Charles H. (1951). A History of Education in West Virginia: From Early Colonial Times to 1949. Huntington, WV: Standard Printing and Publishing Company.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
