История и президенты университета Седарвилл (История и президенты университета Седарвилл)

Baptist university in Cedarville, Ohio, US

After McKinney, Wilbert McChesney served as president from 1915 to 1940. McChesney guided the college during World War I and the Depression, and also served as professor of New Testament when the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary was located at Cedarville. In addition to his duties at Cedarville, McChesney served seven terms in the Ohio Legislature. Walter Smith Kilpatrick replaced McChesney in 1940 and served until 1943. He is the only alumnus of the college (1934) to serve as president, having graduated with honors. Kilpatrick's brief tenure faced financial challenges and the impact of World War II. Ira Vayhinger became the college's fourth president in 1943 and served until 1950. He had served as general secretary of the local YMCA from 1911 to 1922. He joined Cedarville College in 1941 as finance director and business manager. As president, he guided the college through enrollment challenges and the difficult years of World War II. E. H. Miller was appointed president in 1950. During his tenure, in 1953, the college merged with the Baptist Bible Institute of Cleveland. Following the unanimous vote of both boards of trustees, the transfer of property occurred April 4, 1953. Miller's tenure as president ended in 1953. The Baptists were affiliated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. Webster led the move from Cleveland to Cedarville and hired new faculty to complement the existing Baptist Bible Institute professors. Webster represented Cedarville at national and state conferences of the Regular Baptist Churches to promote the college. Paul H. Dixon became the eighth president of Cedarville College in 1978. During the 25 years that Dixon served as president, Cedarville constructed $100 million in facilities and expanded from 180 to 400 acres.

In 2002, it became a university. In 2003, it became affiliated with the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio. Enrollment increased from 1,185 students in 1978 to more than 3,000 by the end of Dixon's service in 2003. and Michael Pahl. As a result of ongoing problems, President Brown announced his resignation in October 2012. In January 2013, Inside Higher Ed characterized the university as being in the midst of an "ongoing, tangled doctrinal controversy." Vice President for Student Life Carl Ruby resigned for undisclosed reasons in January 2013. Brown left his position as president in July 2013, instead becoming the university's chancellor, an office he held until July 2014. Thomas White became the 10th president of Cedarville in July 2013. Under White's leadership, the university completed an extensive renovation of the Jeremiah Chapel, built new science laboratories, established two additional graduate programs, and founded the Center for Biblical Apologetics and Public Christianity. White claimed that his policies were in line with Cedarville's past values and Scripture, and were "not a new shift." In early 2014, White said that university was preparing to codify their complementarian stance concerning gender roles and re wrote the school's doctrinal statement to reflect the change. According to 100: Cedarville College, A Century of Commitment by J. Murray Murdoch, the first doctrinal statement adopted by then Cedarville College made no mention of gender roles or complementarian theology. From 2010 to 2014, an independent student newspaper titled The Ventriloquist was written by students and publicly distributed on campus without authorization. The publication often reported alternative perspectives about the institutional changes and had published LGBT sympathetic content. In April 2014, President White and Vice President of Student Life Jon Wood confiscated copies of the newspaper as students waited outside the chapel to distribute it. According to The Ventriloquist, White stated that permission was required to distribute the newspaper. After this incident, The Ventriloquist was moved online, where new articles continued to be published for about a year. They later changed the policy title to the "Biblically Consistent Curriculum (BCC) Policy," after two veteran Bible professors objected to this interpretation and application of Philippians 4:8. The policy is still in place today, serving to regulate the literature, art, films, and other media that faculty are permitted to use in the classroom. The university's seal has remained essentially unchanged from the Presbyterians' original design and still contains the Latin phrase "Pro Corona et Foedere Christi", which is translated, "For the crown and covenant of Christ". The original seal is surrounded with a slogan adopted by the former Baptist Bible Institute, "For the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ".

Thomas White took office as president in July 2013, becoming the 10th president of Cedarville University. Under White's leadership, the university has completed an extensive renovation of the Jeremiah Chapel, built new science laboratories, established two additional graduate programs, and founded the Center for Biblical Apologetics and Public Christianity. the first doctrinal statement adopted by then Cedarville College made no mention of gender roles or complementarian theology. White also said he was eliminating layers of leadership so that the presidential cabinet would have direct authority over the university. In 2018, the chair of the university's board of trustees and White's mentor, Paige Patterson, was fired from his position at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) for covering up a sexual assault; he subsequently resigned from the board. In July 2020, The Roys Report alleged that Thomas White and his wife, Joy White, aided in this cover up during their time at the SWBTS. In recent years, students have also alleged that faculty and staff have failed to provide a safe environment for students, discouraged them from seeking help while experiencing suicidal ideation, and threatened retaliatory lawsuits against students for submitting Title IX complaints. On May 1, 2020, Cedarville's board of trustees placed President White on administrative leave. The board stated that it had learned additional details regarding White's hiring and subsequent firing of an admitted sexual abuser. Lieutenant General (Ret.) Loren Reno was appointed acting president. While White claimed he did not know the extent of Anthony Moore's predation, the Village Church of Fort Worth claims to have provided him with a complete testimony at the time of Moore's hiring. In June, the board reinstated White, leading to the resignation of Mark Vreogop and Danny Akin. Citing these controversies and high staff turnover, the Higher Learning Commission is conducting an assurance review into Cedarville University's accreditation status in 2020.

Cedarville University offers more than 150 programs of study, which cover most areas of the liberal arts, the sciences, professional programs, and theological studies. It also offers over 50 minors, including a five class Bible minor, which all students are required to take. The university awards graduate degrees in the areas of nursing (M. S. N.), business (M. B. A. ), ministry (M. Min. and M. Div.) and pharmacy (Pharm. D.). Cedarville is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The university launched a School of Pharmacy in 2009 with 52 students beginning a three year pre pharmacy curriculum, and the four year professional graduate program (Doctor of Pharmacy) launched in 2012. The program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. The Doctor of Pharmacy degree is the university's only doctoral degree and provides patient care services and student education through Cedar Care Pharmacy and the Center for Pharmacy Innovation. In 2022, Cedarville changed the name of the School of Business Administration, to the Robert W. Plaster School of Business (PSB). As a consequence of a donation from the Robert Plaster Foundation and other donations from individuals, the newly branded PSB is housed in the business building next to the Stevens Student Center. The university employs more than 200 faculty in several academic departments and the schools of engineering, education, business, pharmacy, nursing, and biblical and theological studies. Academic faculty are required to commit to "biblical integration in and out of the classroom" and must be born again Christians.

According to its mission statement, the university is "a Christ centered learning community equipping students for lifelong leadership and service through an education marked by excellence and grounded in biblical truth." All students are required to earn a 15 credit hour Bible minor and attend weekday chapel services on campus in the Dixon Ministry Center. Students are also encouraged to participate in various community service and ministry programs off campus. Discipleship groups (D groups) also feature a prominent role on campus. The purpose of d groups is to facilitate a more accountable form of small group ministry. A discipleship group of the same gender meets once a week to go through a book of the Bible or Christian book. After a year of being in a d group, individuals can apply to be a d group leader.

The university's original campus and facilities are located in the village of Cedarville. Since about 1970, the school has purchased and consolidated surrounding farmlands which now total approximately 400 acres to the north and west of the village. Among the few turn of the century structures is Founders Hall (Old Main), which houses the president's office and administrative functions. Those who choose to reside on campus live in single sex residence halls. The university has eleven residence buildings for men and eleven for women, all with co ed lounges. Some halls group rooms in a suite like setting, with three to four bedrooms sharing a small lounge in each unit, while others have a single room, hall style format with communal lounges on each floor. Townhouses are available for upper class and graduate students. Newer athletic facilities cover the farthest northwestern reaches of campus, including a soccer stadium and baseball/softball fields. The university created the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course in 2006, located on the north end of campus and designed to host NCAA sanctioned, as well as All Ohio and National Christian College Athletic Association meets.

The water tower of Cedarville University is a landmark on the university campus in Cedarville, Ohio. First erected in 1983, the water tower underwent a $55,000 renovation in 2015. The water tower is located behind Cedarville's athletic center and bears the school's mascot, a yellow jacket named Stinger, along with the university's stylized text logo. The aesthetic elements were added in the 2015 renovation by H2O Towers of Saline, Michigan. The job was completed in four days using high gloss paint manufactured by Tnemec. The water tower can be seen over Cedarville University by southbound drivers on Ohio 72. The tower serves as a landmark for one of the university's emergency telephones.

Cedarville has been criticized at a national level for its handling of alleged sexual assaults. In 2013, a student filed an anonymous federal complaint against the university for allegedly violating Title IX and mishandling her report of attempted rape. Following this complaint, the U. S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into how Cedarville handled allegations of sexual assaults. and threatened retaliatory lawsuits against students for submitting Title IX complaints.

Known as the Cedarville University Yellow Jackets, Cedarville competes in 16 sports. The official school colors are blue and gold. Cedarville is a dual member of two national athletics associations; the university is an NCAA Division II member as well as a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). The university became a full member of NCAA Division II on July 12, 2012. In 2013 the university joined five other regional institutions to form the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Prior to joining the NCAA, Cedarville competed as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in the American Mideast Conference (AMC). Cedarville ended their affiliation with the NAIA after the 2010–11 academic year, after competing in the NAIA for over 60 years. Since joining NCAA Division II, 10 Cedarville teams have competed in their respective NCAA Championships. Yellow Jacket golfer Jacob Forsyth competed in the NCAA Division II Super Regional (2013). Carsyn Koch won the 800 meter race at the NCAA Division II Track and Field Indoor and Outdoor Championships (2016, 2017)., competed at the U. S. Olympic Trials in 2016, and competed in the U. S. Outdoor National Track and Field Championships (2017). Dan Michalski won the 3,000 meter steeplechase at the NCAA Division II Track and Field Outdoor Championships (2017), becoming Cedarville's first men's NCAA Division II champion.

Cedarville University offers nearly 120 different student organizations, from academic and professional, to social and service, to cross cultural and special interest groups. The university is also home to Resound Radio, an internet radio station run through the school's communication department.