University of the Cumberlands

University of the Cumberlands, first called Williamsburg Institute , was founded on January 7, 1889. [ 4 ] At the 1887 annual meeting of the Mount Zion Association, representatives from 18 eastern Kentucky Baptist churches discussed plans to provide higher education in the Kentucky mountains. The Kentucky state legislature incorporated the college on April 6, 1888. In 1907, the school bought the three buildings of Highland College , and in 1913, Williamsburg Institute's name was changed to Cumberland College . The name reflected the institution's location along the Cumberland River and its proximity to Cumberland Falls and the Cumberland Gap . The institution was previously affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention , and its mission has been to educate and prepare leaders for service to the greater community. Based on formerly being controlled by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and being bound by its policies, the university requested and received exemptions from Title IX in the areas of "admissions, recruitment, education programs or activities, and employment", allowing it to discriminate in those fields based on its views regarding "marriage, sex outside of marriage, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, and abortion." [ 5 ] University of the Cumberlands sought, and received, a dissolution with the Kentucky Baptist Convention during the annual convention on November 12, 2018. [ 6 ] The university described itself as a "private Baptist university" in its 2021 tax filings [ 7 ] and marketed itself as an institution "grounded in Christian principles" as of the 2023–2024 academic year. [ 8 ] Although founded as a senior college, Cumberland College officially became a junior college in 1918. The college received its first accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in 1931. In 1956, the college's board of trustees began restoring the college to senior college status.

The junior year was added in 1959–60, and the senior year in 1960–1961. SACS granted initial accreditation to the institution as a senior college in December 1964. Cumberland College received authority to award its first graduate degree, the Master of Arts in Education (MAED), on April 6, 1988. Graduate education has since become an integral part of the institution. In 2005, the institution received authorization from SACS to offer the Master of Arts in Teaching degree (MAT). This action was followed in 2006 with permission from the SACS Commission on Colleges to offer both the MAED and MAT degrees entirely online. More recently, in 2008, the commission also authorized granting the MBA degree, the Ed.S. degree, and the institution's first doctoral degree, an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. Master's programs in Professional Counseling and Physician Assistant Studies were approved by SACS in 2009, and the Master of Arts in Christian Studies in 2010. In 2004 then-president Larry Cockrum was caught in an academic scandal because he was awarded a fake degree from Crescent City Christian College. [ 9 ] The incident occurred while Cockrum was employed at College of the Ozarks . The professor who questioned this degree was fired, while Larry Cockrum was allowed to resign. [ 9 ] Cockrum later received a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Vanderbilt University and a post-graduate certification from Harvard University . The following year, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) censured the university, finding that then-President James Taylor coerced Professor Robert Day into resigning because he had opposed Taylor's proposed staff layoffs on an off-campus website. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] The AAUP concluded that "The policies of Cumberland College, including the grievance procedure, do not provide for faculty hearings of any kind.

College policies and practices preclude any effective faculty role in academic governance and contribute to an atmosphere that stifles the freedom of faculty to question and criticize administrative decisions and actions." The AAUP noted that current and former faculty members "do not feel free to address topics of college concern in any forum" and "described a climate of fear about what faculty members may say and do, a fear based on what they know or have been told has happened to others". Those interviewed "expressed a particular fear that criticizing the administration and its operation of the college could place a faculty member's appointment in jeopardy". [ 12 ] On July 1, 2005, the institution's trustees changed the institution's name to the University of the Cumberlands. Ten presidents have led the college, including William James Johnson; E. E. Wood; John Newton Prestridge; Gorman Jones, acting president; A. R. Evans, acting president; Charles William Elsey; James Lloyd Creech; J. M. Boswell; James H. Taylor and Larry L. Cockrum. On October 3, 2014, university President James Taylor announced that then-Vice President for Academic Affairs Larry Cockrum would take over day-to-day operations of the university after the board of trustees meeting on October 15, 2014. Taylor also announced his retirement as president effective October 15, 2015, with the recommendation that Cockrum be named university president effective October 16, 2015. On that date, Taylor would assume the honorary title of university chancellor. [ 13 ] The board of trustees officially approved the succession plan on October 15, 2014, giving Cockrum a seven-year contract and the title of Chief Executive Officer & President-Elect. [ 14 ] The board of trustees, in a unanimous vote, officially named Cockrum university president on October 15, 2015.

[ 15 ] That same year, the university was granted an exception to Title IX , which allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons. [ 16 ] Notable alumni include two governors, five military generals, and five college and university presidents. Beliefs and policies on homosexuality The university's beliefs about and policies on homosexuality have proven controversial on many occasions. In 2006, the Kentucky state budget included $10 million of state debt to construct a pharmacy building on the university's Whitley County campus. Additionally, $1 million for scholarships for the pharmacy program were included. The $10 million building was to be funded out of a $100 million pool of money titled the "infrastructure for economic development fund for coal-producing counties." Money to repay the bond issuance would come from coal severance taxes . The Kentucky Fairness Alliance asked Governor Ernie Fletcher to veto the $11 million that state lawmakers approved for a planned pharmacy school. [ 17 ] A gay Kentucky State Senator, Ernesto Scorsone , has indicated that he would oppose spending the funds already allocated for a new pharmacy school for the university based on the Johnson situation, stating "We should not be budgeting bigotry." "If the University of the Cumberlands does not change its policies and practices, we will have a state benefit that is only available to heterosexuals," Scorsone said. [ 18 ] An additional complication was that the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education , the accrediting agency for all American pharmacy schools, explicitly prohibits discrimination against gays. Its guideline stated that approved schools must have a policy on student affairs, including admissions and progression, that assures non-discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, lifestyle, national origin, or disability.