Erskine College is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
college in
Due West, South Carolina. It is an undergraduate
liberal arts college
A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual cap ...
and a graduate
theological seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...
. The college was founded in 1839 by the
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Its sports teams compete in
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
as a member of
Conference Carolinas
Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) primarily at the Divisio ...
.
History
Erskine College was founded by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1839. Prior to this time the church had established an academy for men in Due West, S.C., in 1835, and a seminary in 1837. The academy became Erskine College, the first four-year church-related college in South Carolina. It was named for
Ebenezer Erskine
Ebenezer Erskine (22 June 1680 – 2 June 1754) was a Scottish minister whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church (formed by dissenters from the Church of Scotland).
Early life
Ebenezer's father, Henry Erskine, served as ...
, a pastor and one of the founders of one of the antecedent bodies of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Erskine had led a group of separatists from the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
to found an Associate
Presbytery.
Erskine began to admit women in 1894 and officially became
coeducational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
in 1899. In 1927, it merged with
Due West Female College, founded in 1859. In 1929,
Bryson College closed and merged with Erskine College.
A planned merger of the college, the seminary, and the Due West Woman’s College paved the way for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges in 1925. By 1927 the three schools had merged into one institution called Erskine College, with the seminary serving as its graduate theological school.
During World War II Erskine served as a cadet training school for the United States Army Air Corps. A substantial enrollment effort in the late 1950s brought Erskine’s undergraduate enrollment to over 700 students throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. In 2014, Erskine celebrated 175 years as a Christian academic community, and in the 2022-23 school year, enrollment hit an all-time high of 830 undergraduate and 137 graduate seminary students.
On March 11, 2014, a website article on
Outsports detailed the coming out of two male players on the college's volleyball team. On February 27, 2015, Erskine College released a statement that students are expected to "follow the teachings of scripture concerning matters of human sexuality."
Academics
Erskine College offers
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
degrees. Minors are offered in several other fields of study. A Christian Education concentration is offered within the Bible and Religion major and special minors are offered in
Family Studies,
Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...
, Non-Western Studies,
Theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
, and
Information Technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...
. The college also offers pre-professional programs in medicine, law, pharmacy, and dentistry. The student to faculty ratio is 15:1.
Erskine is accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...
. It was placed on "Warning" status following its decennial accreditation review in December 2013. The college's status was reviewed in December 2014, and the sanction was then escalated to "Probation" status, due to continued failure to comply with accreditation standards related to fiscal stability and institutional effectiveness in student learning outcomes. SACSCOC removed all accreditation sanctions and reaffirmed Erskine's regional accreditation in December 2015.
Athletics
Erskine College teams participate as a member of the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleg ...
's
Division II,
Conference Carolinas
Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) primarily at the Divisio ...
. Erskine is also a member of the National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA).
Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, track and field, and volleyball; while women's sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.
Co-ed sports include bass fishing, e-sports, and rodeo. On September 25, 2019, Erskine Athletic Director Mark Peeler announced the addition of a Cheerleading and Dance program beginning in the 2020–2021 school year.
The Flying Fleet
Back in 1896, Erskine College began its first American football team. They had very successful seasons between 1917 and 1921. During those seasons they had wins against Wofford, Presbyterian, South Carolina, Clemson, and the Citadel. One of the memorable games of Erskine's football team was against Furman University. It was during that game in 1929 that Erskine took on the name "The Flying Fleet", given to them by a Greenville reporter who was impressed by their passing performance. On October 18, 1948, they defeated Florida State 14–6. The Flying Fleet ended their football program in 1951.
In 2018, Erskine College announced the return of the football program for the 2020 season competing as an Independent in NCAA Division II. In 2021, The Flying Fleet played its first football game in 70 years.
Major buildings
* Administrative offices: Belk Hall, Watkins Student Center
* Art buildings: Bowie Arts Center, Memorial Hall
* Classrooms: Belk Hall, Reid Hall, Daniel Moultrie Science Center (DMSC)
* Recreation: Galloway Center, the Hangar (under Lesesne Auditorium), pavilion, swimming pool, sand volleyball court
* Men's housing: Bonner Hall, Grier Hall, Kennedy Hall, McQuiston Hall (Honors Housing), Pressly Hall
* Women's housing: Carnegie Hall, Edwards House (Honors Housing), Robinson Hall
* Co-ed housing: Erskine Apartments,
Fleet Village
* Dining services: Java City, Moffatt Dining Hall, Snappers
* Erskine Towers: Flagship Building, old astronomical observatory and clock tower
* Library: McCain Library, Reid Hall (archives)
* Literary Society Halls: Euphemian Hall, Philomathean Hall
Notable alumni
*
Susan Audé –
WIS-TV
WIS (channel 10) is a television station in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios on Bull and Gervais Streets (US 1/ US 378) in downtown Columbia ...
news anchor
*
Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as '' Tobacco Road'' (1 ...
– author (attended, but did not graduate)
*
Rex L. Carter - American lawyer and politician
*
Beth Couture – head coach of the
Butler Bulldogs women's basketball team
*
Lawrence Cowan – Arizona territorial, legislator, judge, lawyer, and business.
*
Tom Ervin
Thomas Jonathan Ervin (born May 14, 1952) is an American attorney, former judge, one-time politician and former radio station owner. A past member of the Republican Party, he also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1979 ...
– member of the South Carolina House of Representatives
*
Alphonza Gadsden – bishop of the
Reformed Episcopal Church
The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican church of evangelical Episcopalian heritage. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The REC is a founding member ...
*
Thomas S. Gettys – U.S. Congressman from South Carolina
*
Charles Haldeman - American novelist
*
Joseph T. Johnson
Joseph Travis Johnson (February 28, 1858 – May 8, 1919) was a United States representative from South Carolina and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of South Carolina.
Education and ...
- U.S. Representative from South Carolina and U.S. district judge
*
Ira B. Jones – former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice and gubernatorial candidate
*
Thomas G. Long – Bandy Professor of Preaching at
Candler School of Theology
Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is als ...
at
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
*
Benjamin Meek Miller – Governor of Alabama, 1931–1935
*
William Bell Montgomery – founder of ''Southern Farm Gazette'' (now known as the ''
Progressive Farmer)'' and
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...
*
Eric Moody - professional baseball player
*
Joseph Rodney Moss – former Associate Justice and Chief Justice on the
South Carolina Supreme Court
The South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices.
*
Champ Osteen - professional baseball player
*
Lemuel P. Padgett – U.S. Congressman from Tennessee
*
Garth Pollonais - professional soccer player
*
Maynard Pittendreigh - astronomer, writer and an ordained minister in the
Presbyterian Church (USA)
The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women a ...
*
Buck Pressly - professional baseball player
*
Eleanor C. Pressly – aeronautical engineer at
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
*
Charles Bryson Simonton – U.S. Congressman from Tennessee
*
W. Jasper Talbert - U.S. Congressman
*
Eugene Van Taylor - professional soccer player
*
Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine (born Thomas Miller, December 13, 1949) is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television.
Biography
Verlaine was born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey and ...
– lead singer/guitarist of
proto-punk
Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wi ...
rock band
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
(attended, but did not graduate)
*
Jay West - American politician
*
H. Llyod Wilkerson –
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...
major general
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
*
Li Zhengming - Chinese engineer and professor
See also
*
Euphemian Literary Society
*
List of colleges and universities in South Carolina
*
Philomathean Literary Society (Erskine College) The Philomathean Literary Society of Erskine College is one of Erskine College's four literary society, literary societies. The Philomelean Society is the sister organization and provides membership to women. Philomathean Hall is the oldest building ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Erskine College athletics website
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Liberal arts colleges in South Carolina
Presbyterian universities and colleges in the United States
Educational institutions established in 1839
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Buildings and structures in Abbeville County, South Carolina
1839 establishments in South Carolina
Private universities and colleges in South Carolina