Cumberland University

Drawing of Cumberland University, c.1858

Memorial Hall, 1918

The university was founded by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1842 and received its Tennessee State charter in 1843. In 1847 Cumberland Presbyterian church leaders added a law school, the first in Tennessee and the first west of the Appalachian Mountains, and in 1854 a school of theology was begun.

The original building, designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland, housed schools of art, law and theology. It was burned by the Union Army during the American Civil War.[2]

Following the war, the university's faculty included former Confederate general A. P. Stewart. He taught there during his post-Civil War Union parole.[2]

The Civil War nearly destroyed Cumberland University. University Hall was burned to the ground by Confederate forces under the command of General Joseph Wheeler. A Cumberland student wrote on a ruined Corinthian column the Latin Ex Cineribus Resurgam (From the ashes I will arise). The university thereafter adopted the mythical phoenix bird as its symbol. By 1866, just one year after the war's end, all departments were again operating in various locations in the town of Lebanon. Cumberland University moved to its present campus location in 1892.

The university fell on hard times during the Great Depression, as did most small private colleges. After World War II, Cumberland experienced several changes in sponsorship and programs. In 1946, The Tennessee Baptist Convention assumed control of the school, ending a century of operation by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

In 1951, the Tennessee Baptists closed the College of Arts and Sciences and operated only the School of Law. In 1956, the Board of Trust secured an amendment to the Charter and changed Cumberland to a private, independent corporation. The College of Arts and Sciences was reopened as a two-year junior college, known as Cumberland College of Tennessee. In 1962, the assets of the School of Law were transferred to Howard College, now known as Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Board of Trust expanded the academic programs of the junior college in 1982, returning Cumberland to a four-year, degree institution. It resumed the old name of Cumberland University. Since then, Cumberland has expanded its academic program to include new majors and specialized student-learning opportunities.

Cumberland University gives back to the local community in many ways. Cumberland has a Circle K club, which is affiliated with Kiwanis International.[3] On February 13, 2010, Cumberland University hosted a conference basketball game, and donated half of its gate admissions to Sherry's Run, a non-profit organization created to benefit people with cancer.[4] Also, the Cumberland University cycling team formed its own chapter of local non-profit organization Ride for Reading.[5]

The university has 3 sororities and 5 fraternities. The sororities include the Lambda Omicron chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi and the Delta Mu chapter of Alpha Sigma Tau as well as Zeta Phi Beta (NPHC).[6] The fraternities include the Theta Prime chapter of Kappa Sigma, the Nu chapter of Sigma Chi. There are 3 NPHC fraternities : Gamma Rho Gamma chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, the Phi Delta Delta chapter of Omega Psi Phi and the Rho Rho Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.[7]

Cumberland University

Cumberland University teams, nicknamed athletically as the Phoenix, are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Mid-South Conference. The Phoenix formerly competed in the TranSouth Athletic Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.

Cumberland football began on October 26, 1894 with a 6–6 tie with Peabody and finished that first year with a 2–1–1 season record. The early days of Cumberland football were very promising. The pinnacle of the early days of CU football was the 1903 season that began with a (6–0) win over Vanderbilt then a (0–6) loss to Sewanee and continued with a five-day road trip with victories over Alabama (44–0) November 14, 1903, LSU (41–0) November 16, 1903, and Tulane (28–0) November 18, 1903. Cumberland would play a postseason game against Coach John Heisman's Clemson team on Thanksgiving Day that ended in an 11–11 tie and a record of 4–1–1 [8] which gave Coach A.L. Phillips and Cumberland University the Championship of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.[9][10] The 1916 game against Georgia Tech is famous as the most lopsided-scoring game in the history of college football, which was a 0–222 loss for Cumberland University.

Cumberland's baseball program is probably its best-known athletic team, especially those of the 2004, 2010, and 2014 baseball seasons, which won the World Series of the NAIA; the 1995 and 2006 teams were runner-up in this event.

In addition, Cumberland achieved a top-ten finish at the National Collegiate Cycling Association's National Championship, its women's basketball team finished as NAIA National Tournament Runner-Up in 2007, and Cumberland achieved a National Tournament appearance for the No. 17-ranked Men's Tennis Team in 2007. The men's basketball team also earned success in the 2008–2009 basketball season earning another trip to the National Tournament.

Cumberland University's Women's Basketball team won the Mid-South Conference title in 2012–2013 and lost in semi finals of the NAIA national tournament in Frankfort Kentucky

For the 2008 season, CU's football earned a share of the Mid-South Conference West Division.

On August 7, 2013, Cumberland University was granted provisional membership into the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) after a vote of league presidents, paving the way for the University to apply to the NCAA for admittance into Division II in February 2014.[11] Cumberland's application to join Division II was denied in 2014.[12]

On January 4, 2016, Cumberland University changed the nickname of its athletic program from "Bulldogs" to "Phoenix", stating that, "For more than 150 years, the Phoenix has personified the spirit of Cumberland University."[13]

The 2017 soccer season for the women's program was a successful one. Head coach, Brian Davies, lead his team to an undefeated winning streak for the regular season. The program made it to the Mid-South Conference finals where they were defeated 1-0 by rival, Lindsay Wilson College.[14]

The main building on campus was featured in Taylor Swift's music video "Love Story."[15]

Memorial Hall at Cumberland University.

The school's alumni include more than eight congressmen and thirty college presidents.

• Howell Edmunds Jackson, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1893–1895
• Thomas P. Gore, United States Senator from Oklahoma, 1907–1921; 1931–1937
• Horace Harmon Lurton, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 1910–1914
• George Huddleston, U.S. Representative from Alabama, 1915–1937
• Cordell Hull, Secretary of State under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933–1944.
• Frank G. Clement, Governor of Tennessee, 1954–1959; 1963–1967
• David R. Ray, Medal of Honor Recipient for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War
• Oren Harris, U.S. Representative from Arkansas, 1953–1966; thereafter a U.S. District Judge based in El Dorado
• Maecenas Eason Benton, U.S. Representative from Missouri, 1897–1905, and father of famous painter, Thomas Hart Benton.
• Wright Patman, U.S. Representative from Texas, 1929–1976
• Robert M. Rainey (1882–1971), Oklahoma judge and member of state Supreme Court.
• George E. Allen, head coach of the 1916 football team that lost 0–222 to Georgia Tech, later an advisor to President Harry Truman
• Cale Young Rice, playwright and poet.
• Laban Lacy Rice, noted educator and writer, former president of Cumberland University.
• Myles Horton, educator and social activist, graduated in 1928.
• Wade H. Kitchens, J.D., U.S. Representative from Arkansas, 1937-1941
• Thomas G. Abernethy, U.S. Representative from Mississippi, 1943–1973
• Morgan M. Moulder, U.S. Representative from Missouri, 1948–1962
• Theodore M. Brantley 1881 – longest-serving Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court, serving for 23 years (1899–1922)
• Jeff Davis, Democratic United States Senator from Arkansas and the 20th Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas[16]
• Brady Gentry – U.S. Representative from Texas 1953–1957
• John T. Watkins – U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district, 1905–1921
• Wendell Mayes - playwright, screenwriter

• Official website
• Cumberland Athletics website