Vanderbilt University

==History==

===Founding and early years===
[[File:Appletons' Vanderbilt Cornelius - University.jpg|thumb|right|Drawing of Vanderbilt University's Main Campus from ''Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography'' (1889)]]

In the years before the [[American Civil War]] of 1861–1865, the [[Methodist Episcopal Church South]] had been considering the creation of a regional university for the training of [[Minister (Christianity)|ministers]] in a location central to its congregations.<ref name="Carey">{{cite book |title= Chancellors, Commodores & Coeds: A History of Vanderbilt University |last=Carey |first= Bill |year= 2003 |publisher= Clearbrook Press Publishing |location= Nashville, TN |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-ls_Nq2dDgC |isbn=978-0-9725680-0-5 }}</ref> Following lobbying by Nashville bishop [[Holland Nimmons McTyeire]], church leaders voted to found "The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South" in Nashville in 1872.<ref name="Carey" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Stowell |first=Daniel W. |date=1998 |title=Rebuilding Zion: The Religious Reconstruction of the South, 1863–1877 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mpgc1TxrwoC&pg=RA2-PA1863|location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514981-4}}</ref> However, lack of funds and the ravaged state of the [[Reconstruction Era]] South delayed the opening of the college.<ref name="Carey" />

The following year, McTyeire stayed at the [[New York City]] residence of [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]], whose second wife was [[Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt]] (1839–1885), a cousin of McTyeire's wife, Amelia Townsend McTyeire (1827–1891); both women were from [[Mobile, Alabama]].<ref name="lylelankford">{{Cite web |date=2015-10-17 |title=Women to the Rescue &#124; Vanderbilt Magazine &#124; Vanderbilt University |url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2009/08/women-to-the-rescue/ |access-date=2022-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017225333/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2009/08/women-to-the-rescue/ |archive-date=17 October 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tnportraits.org/mctyeire-mrs.htm |title=Tennessee Portrait Project: Amelia Townsend McTyeire |publisher=Tnportraits.org |access-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140920/http://www.tnportraits.org/mctyeire-mrs.htm  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tnportraits.org/vanderbilt-frank-crawford-no6.htm |title=Tennessee Portrait Project: Frank Crawford Vanderbilt |publisher=Tnportraits.org |access-date=April 23, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304140924/http://www.tnportraits.org/vanderbilt-frank-crawford-no6.htm  }}</ref> Cornelius Vanderbilt, the wealthiest man in the United States at the time, had been planning to establish a university on [[Staten Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref name="Carey" /> However, McTyeire convinced him to donate $500,000 to endow Central University in order to "contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country".<ref name="Carey" /><ref name="VUhistory">{{cite web |publisher = Vanderbilt University |title = The History of Vanderbilt |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/history.html |access-date = May 24, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070523140459/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/history.html |archive-date = May 23, 2007  }}</ref>

The endowment was eventually increased to $1 million (roughly ${{Inflation|USD|1|1872}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}) and though Vanderbilt never expressed any desire that the university be named after him,<ref name="Carey" /> McTyeire and his fellow trustees rechristened the school in the Spring of 1873 in his honor.<ref name="Carey" /><ref name="Renehan">{{cite book |title= Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt |last= Renehan |first= Edward J. Jr. |year= 2007 |publisher = Basic Books |page = XV}}</ref> They acquired land from [[Congress of the Confederate States|Confederate Congressman]] [[Henry S. Foote]], who had built Old Central, a house still standing on campus.<ref name="vanderbiltoldcentral">{{cite news |date=April 8, 2002 |first=Bill |last=Carey |title=Old Central built by former governor who slugged Jefferson Davis |url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/News/register/Apr08_02/story12.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115143903/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/News/register/Apr08_02/story12.html  |archive-date=November 15, 2002 |newspaper=Vanderbilt Register |access-date=November 5, 2015 }}</ref>

The first building, Main Building, later known as [[Kirkland Hall]], was designed by [[William Crawford Smith]]; its construction began in 1874.<ref name="thevanderbilt" /><ref name="hooblernash">{{cite book |last=Hoobler |first=James A. |date=2008 |title=A Guide to Historic Nashville, Tennessee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wq1PRKKVhd4C&pg=PA145|location=Charleston, South Carolina |publisher=The History Press |page=145 |isbn=978-1-59629-404-2}}</ref> In the fall of 1875, about 200 students enrolled at Vanderbilt, and in October the university was dedicated.<ref name="Carey" /> Bishop McTyeire was named chairman of the Board of Trust for life by Vanderbilt as a stipulation of his endowment.<ref name="Carey" /> McTyeire named [[Landon Garland]] (1810–1895), his [[mentor]] from [[Randolph-Macon College]], as [[List of Chancellors of Vanderbilt University|chancellor]]. Garland shaped the school's structure and hired the school's faculty.<ref name="VUhistory" /> Most of this faculty left after disputes with Bishop McTyeire, including over pay rates.<ref name="Carey" /> When the first fraternity chapter, [[Phi Delta Theta]], was established on campus in 1876, it was shut down by the faculty, only to be reestablished as a [[secret society]] in 1877.<ref name=thestoryofthefrats>{{cite news|title=The Story of the Frats at Vanderbilt University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/118784371/?terms=%22the%2Bstory%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bfrats%2Bat%2Bvanderbilt%2Buniversity%22 |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=January 12, 1908 |page=16 |via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date =January 5, 2016 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Meanwhile, [[Old Gym (Vanderbilt University)|Old Gym]], designed by [[Peter J. Williamson]], was built in 1879–1880.<ref name="hooblernash" /> By 1883, the Board of Trust passed a resolution allowing fraternities on campus, and more chapters were established in 1884.<ref name=thestoryofthefrats />

====Connections to slavery====
Many of the university's early leaders had prominent ties to slavery and the Confederacy before the Civil War. Frank Vanderbilt was "a Confederate sympathizer" during the Civil War.<ref name="legacymediratta">{{cite news |last1=Mediratta |first1=Avi |last2=Bub |first2=Sydney |title=The Legacy of Slavery at Vanderbilt |url=http://vanderbiltpoliticalreview.com/the-legacy-of-slavery-at-vanderbilt/ |access-date=June 16, 2018 |work=Vanderbilt Political Review |date=October 5, 2016|quote=Although Cornelius Vanderbilt originally supported the Union, it was Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt, the Commodore's wife and a Confederate sympathizer, who supposedly convinced him to donate money for the founding of Vanderbilt University. The university named Crawford House, on the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, in her honor.}}</ref> McTyeire was born into a slave-owning family and authored an essay in favor of slavery.<ref name="vanderbilthistoricalreviewthelegacyofslavery">{{cite news|last1=Fuselier|first1=Kathryn|last2=Yee|first2=Robert|title=The Legacy of Slavery at Vanderbilt: Our Forgotten Past|url=http://vanderbilthistoricalreview.com/legacy-of-slavery/|access-date=September 19, 2017|work=Vanderbilt Historical Review|date=October 17, 2016|archive-date=October 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002120504/http://vanderbilthistoricalreview.com/legacy-of-slavery/}}</ref> Garland owned "up to 60 slaves" before the Civil War.<ref name="vanderbilthistoricalreviewthelegacyofslavery"/>

One of the founding trustees, [[Hezekiah William Foote]], was a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] veteran and the owner of four plantations in [[Mississippi]], including [[Mount Holly (Foote, Mississippi)|Mount Holly]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Glenn |first=Justin |date=2015 |title=The Washingtons: A Family History: Volume 1: Seven Generations of the Presidential Branch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpzwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1897|location=El Dorado Hills, California |publisher=Savas Beatie |page=1895 |isbn=978-1-61121-285-3|oclc=898163692}}</ref> The Treasurer of the Board of Trust from 1872 to 1875, [[Alexander Little Page Green]], whose portrait hangs in Kirkland Hall,<ref name="portraitgreen">{{cite web |url=http://www.tnportraits.org/green-alp.htm |title=Vanderbilt Collection&nbsp;— Kirkland Hall: A.L.P. Green 1806–1875 |website=Tennessee Portrait Project |publisher=Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-date=January 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105151612/http://www.tnportraits.org/green-alp.htm  }}</ref> was a Methodist preacher and a former slave owner.<ref name="citycemeterygreen">{{cite web |url=http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/aa-III.htm |title=Slaves Buried Between 1846–1865 |website=Nashville City Cemetery |access-date=November 9, 2015 |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222105415/http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/aa-III.htm  }}</ref> His son-in-law, [[Robert A. Young (1824-1902)|Robert A. Young]], was a Methodist minister who served as the Financial Secretary on the Board of Trust from 1874 to 1882, retiring from the board in 1902.<ref name="thevanderbilt">{{cite news|title=The Vanderbilt. Laying of the Corner Stone of the Great University Yesterday. Interesting Ceremonies and a Large Attendance. Addressed by Bishops McTyeire and Wrightman, Gov. Brown and Chancellor Morgan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/79872208/?terms=%22laying%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bcorner%2Bstone%22%2Bvanderbilt |newspaper=Nashville Union and American |location=Nashville, Tennessee |date=April 29, 1874|page=8|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = November 22, 2015|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Elliston family, who owned slaves, donated some of their [[Burlington (Nashville, Tennessee)|Burlington Plantation]], in one of the first expansions of the campus.{{when|date=June 2018}}<ref name="usatodaybeyondyale">{{cite news|last1=Epstein Ojalvo|first1=Holly|title=Beyond Yale: These other university buildings have ties to slavery and white supremacy|url=http://college.usatoday.com/2017/02/13/yale-university-buildings-slavery-white-supremacy/|access-date=April 7, 2018|work=USA Today|date=February 13, 2017|quote=But in 2012, a new college hall was dedicated to Elizabeth Boddie Elliston, whose family owned slaves and who, according to the university website, "donated segments of her plantation for the formation of the Vanderbilt campus."}}</ref>

===Split with the Methodist Church===
During the first 40 years, the Board of Trust, and therefore the university, was under the control of the [[General conference (United Methodist Church)|General Conference]] (the governing body) of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church, South]].<ref name="Carey" /> Tension grew between the university administration and the Conference over the future of the school, particularly over the methods by which members of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust would be chosen, and the extent that non-Methodists could teach at the school.<ref name="Carey" />

Conflicts escalated after [[James Hampton Kirkland|James H. Kirkland]] was appointed chancellor in 1893.<ref name="Carey" /> Then the Southern Methodist Church congregations raised just $50,000 in a campaign to raise $300,000.<ref name="Carey" />

After the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897, a statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt, designed by Italian sculptor [[Giuseppe Moretti]],<ref name="goffjstorarticle">{{cite journal |last=Goff |first=Reda C. |title=The Confederate Veteran Magazine |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |volume=31 |issue=1 |page=60 |jstor=42623281 | date = Spring 1972 }}</ref> was moved from the grounds of the [[Parthenon (Nashville)|Parthenon]] to the Vanderbilt campus.<ref name=corneliusstatue>{{cite web |title="Cornelius Vanderbilt" G. Moretti|url=http://cpc-fis.vanderbilt.edu/view.php?label=1|website=Vanderbilt University |access-date=December 23, 2015}}</ref>

In 1905, Kirkland Hall burnt down, only to be rebuilt shortly after, though in a notably different architectural style. There is speculation that the school initially intended to rebuild both towers of the original Kirkland Hall but lacked the funds to do so.<ref name="hooblernash" /> Meanwhile, the Board of Trust voted to limit Methodist representation on the board to just five bishops.<ref name="Carey" /> Former faculty member and bishop [[Elijah Hoss]] led a group attempting to assert Methodist control.<ref name="Carey" /> In 1910, the board refused to seat three Methodist bishops.<ref name="Carey" /> The Methodist Church took the issue to court and won at the local level. On March 21, 1914, the [[Tennessee Supreme Court]] ruled that the Commodore, and not the Methodist Church, was the university's founder and that the board could therefore seat whomever it wished.<ref name="Carey" /> The General Conference in 1914 voted 151 to 140 to sever its ties with Vanderbilt; it also voted to establish a new university, [[Southern Methodist University]], and to greatly expand [[Emory University]].<ref name="Carey" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.prodigy.net/nhn.slate/nh00073.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822033735/http://pages.prodigy.net/nhn.slate/nh00073.html|archive-date=August 22, 2010 |title=Vanderbilt University and Southern Methodism|first=Frank|last=Gulley|access-date=February 20, 2008}}</ref>

Colonel [[Edmund William Cole]], the treasurer of the Board of Trust, was a Confederate veteran and a railroad executive.<ref name="jstorannerussellcoleastudyof">{{cite journal|last1=Burt|first1=Jesse C. Jr.|title=Anna Russell Cole: A Study of a Grande Dame |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly|date=June 1954|volume=13|issue=2|pages=127–155 |jstor=42621182}}</ref><ref name="divinityschoolcolelectures">{{cite web|title=Cole Lectures|url=https://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/news/lectures/cole.php|website=Divinity School|publisher=Vanderbilt University|access-date=September 19, 2017|archive-date=October 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002165606/https://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/news/lectures/cole.php}}</ref> He is the namesake of the annual Cole Lecture; his marble bust and his wife's portrait can be seen in Kirkland Hall.<ref name="divinityschoolcolelectures"/><ref name="tnportraitprojectcole">{{cite web|title=Vanderbilt Collection – Kirkland Hall: Anna Virginia Russell (Mrs. E.W.) Cole 1846 – 1926|url=http://tnportraits.org/cole-mrs-ew.htm|website=Tennessee Portrait Project|publisher=National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee|access-date=September 30, 2017|archive-date=September 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915173058/http://www.tnportraits.org/cole-mrs-ew.htm}}</ref> His son, [[Whitefoord Russell Cole]], who was the chairman of the Board of Trust from 1915 to 1934, defended Chancellor Kirkland's decision to split with the Methodist Church.<ref name="filsonclubarticle">{{cite journal|last1=Burt|first1=Jesse C. Jr|title=Whitefoord Russell Cole: A Study in Character|journal=Filson Club History Quarterly|date=January 1954|volume=28|pages=28–48}}</ref><ref name="tnportraitwhitefoord">{{cite web|title=Whitefoord Russell Cole 1874 – 1934|url=http://tnportraits.org/cole-whitefoord-russell.htm|website=Tennessee Portrait Project|publisher=National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee|access-date=October 24, 2017|archive-date=November 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120095033/http://www.tnportraits.org/cole-whitefoord-russell.htm}}</ref> He is the namesake of Cole Hall, completed in 1949.<ref name="tnportraitwhitefoord"/>
{{Clear}}

===1920s through World War II===

[[File:Furman_Hall_Postcard.png|thumb|right|Postcard of Furman Hall, built circa 1930]]
[[File:Furman Hall.png|thumb|right|Furman Hall in 2022]]
In the 1920s and 1930s, Vanderbilt University hosted two partly overlapping groups of scholars who had a large impact on American thought and letters: the [[Fugitives (poets)|Fugitives]] and the [[Southern Agrarians|Agrarians]].<ref name="Carey" /> Meanwhile, [[Frank C. Rand]], who served as the President and later Chairman of the [[Furniture Brands International|International Shoe Company]], donated US$150,000 to the university in 1925;<ref name="randhalestrongandallied16">{{cite book |last=Hale Rand |first=Nettie |date=1940 |title=Rand-Hale, Strong and Allied Families: A Genealogical Study with the Autobiography of Nettie Hale Rand |location= New York City |publisher= The American Historical Company, Inc. |pages= 15–20}}</ref> Rand Hall was subsequently named for him.

In 1928, the construction of three more buildings was completed: Garland Hall, named for Chancellor Landon Garland; Buttrick Hall, named for Wallace Buttrick of the [[General Education Board]]; and Calhoun Hall, named for [[William Henry Calhoun]], a silversmith and Odd Fellows Grand Master.<ref name="tennesseanbuildingsbear">{{cite news|title=Buildings Bear Leaders' Names. Garland, Buttrick and Calhoun To Be Honored at Vanderbilt.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/178879089/?terms=%22william%2Bhenry%2Bcalhoun%22|work=The Tennessean|date=March 25, 1928|page=7|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref>

In 1933, the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]] donated $50,000 (roughly $925,166 in 2015 dollars<ref name="Inflation">{{cite web|title=The Inflation Calculator|url=http://www.westegg.com/inflation/|access-date=May 18, 2016  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718031608/http://www.westegg.com/inflation/|archive-date=July 18, 2011}}</ref>) for the construction of [[Confederate Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt University|Confederate Memorial Hall]], designed by architect [[Henry C. Hibbs]].<ref name="confederatesdefeatvanderbilt">{{cite news |last=Jaschik |first=Scott |date=May 5, 2005 |title=Confederates Defeat Vanderbilt: Appeals court says university must pay – if it wants to change controversial name of a dormitory. |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/05/05/vanderbilt |newspaper=Inside Higher Ed |access-date=November 21, 2015 }}</ref> It was completed in 1935.<ref name="confederatesdefeatvanderbilt" />

In the 1930s, [[Ernest William Goodpasture]] and his colleagues in the [[Vanderbilt University School of Medicine|School of Medicine]] invented methods for cultivating [[virus]]es and [[rickettsiae]] in fertilized chicken eggs.<ref name=GoodpastureObit>"Obituary (AP): Dr. Ernest Goodpasture Dead; Developed Vaccine for Mumps: Pathologist's Chicken Embryo Virus Led to Immunization Against Many Diseases". ''New York Times''; September 22, 1960; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: pg. 27.</ref> This work made possible the production of [[vaccine]]s against [[chicken pox]], [[smallpox]], [[yellow fever]], [[typhus]], [[Rocky mountain spotted fever]] and other diseases caused by agents that only propagate in living cells.<ref name=GoodpastureObit /> [[Alfred Blalock]], Professor of Surgery, and his assistant [[Vivian Thomas]] identified a decrease in blood volume and fluid loss outside the vascular bed as a key factor in [[traumatic shock]] and pioneered the use of replacement fluids for its treatment.<ref name="McCabe">McCabe, Katie [http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/stlm/article.doc "Like Something the Lord Made."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212085552/http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/stlm/article.doc |date=February 12, 2012 }} ''The Washingtonian'', 1999.</ref> This treatment saved countless lives in World War II,<ref name="McCabe" /> during which Vanderbilt was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] which offered students a path to a Navy commission.<ref name="list-of-v-12">{{cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Admin-Hist/115-8thND/115-8ND-23.html |title=U.S. Naval Administration in World War II |publisher=HyperWar Foundation |access-date=September 29, 2011 |year=2011}}</ref>

German [[Biophysics|biophysicist]] [[Max Delbrück]] joined the Department of Physics in 1940, and in the following year, he met Italian microbiologist [[Salvador Luria]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Max Delbruck at Vanderbilt|url=https://as.vanderbilt.edu/physics/delbruck/index.php|access-date=2022-02-05|website=Department of Physics and Astronomy|language=en}}</ref> In 1942, they published on [[bacteria]]l resistance to [[virus]] infection mediated by random [[mutation]]. The culminating [[Luria–Delbrück experiment]], also called the Fluctuation Test, demonstrated that [[Natural selection|Darwin's theory of natural selection]] acting on random mutations applies to bacteria as well as to more complex organisms. The 1969 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] was awarded to both scientists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1969/delbruck/biographical/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1969|website=NobelPrize.org}}</ref>

Shortly after the war, from 1945 to 1947, researchers at Vanderbilt University conducted an experiment funded by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] where they gave 800 pregnant women [[Isotopes of iron|radioactive iron]]<ref name=radioactiveiron>Pacchioli, David, (March 1996) [http://www.rps.psu.edu/mar96/science.html "Subjected to Science"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110005232/http://www.rps.psu.edu/mar96/science.html |date=January 10, 2013 }}, ''Research/Penn State'', Vol. 17, no. 1</ref><ref name="experimentsubjectstoget">{{cite news|title=Experiment subjects to get $10.3 million from university|first=Karin|last=Miller |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/90207291/?terms=%22vanderbilt%2Buniversity%22%2B%22radioactive%22 |newspaper=The Santa Cruz Sentinel |location=Santa Cruz, California |date=July 28, 1998 |page=7 |via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = October 12, 2015 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="1940sstudygave">{{cite news|title=1940s study gave radioactive pills to 751 pregnant women |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/19705619/?terms=%22vanderbilt%2Buniversity%22%2B%22radioactive%22 |newspaper=The Galveston Daily News|location=Galveston, Texas |date=December 21, 1993 |page=3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = October 12, 2015 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> without their consent.<ref name="experimentsubjectstoget" /><ref name="1940sstudygave" /> In a lawsuit the women received $9.1 million from Vanderbilt University and $900,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1998.<ref name="experimentsubjectstoget" />

[[File:CorneliusVanderbiltStatue.JPG|thumb|right|Main Campus, looking toward West End Avenue]]

===1950s and 1960s===
[[File:Oldmech.jpg|thumb|right|Old Mechanical, now part of The Owen Graduate School of Management]]

In the early 1950s, some of the first women graduated as engineers. Women's rights advocate [[Maryly Van Leer Peck]] graduated as the first chemical engineer in 1951 after not being able to study this field at [[Georgia Tech]] where her father was president.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeO2AgAAQBAJ&dq=%22van+leer%22+kkk&pg=PA146|title=Girls Coming to Tech|date=January 14, 2014|access-date=January 14, 2014|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0-262-32027-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Name|url=http://frontweb.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/vuse_web/alumni/alumni-bios/vanleerpeck-maryly.html?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=500|access-date=2022-02-05|website=frontweb.vuse.vanderbilt.edu}}</ref> In 1953, Chancellor Branscomb orchestrated admission of the first African American student to Vanderbilt, in the [[Vanderbilt Divinity School|School of Divinity]].<ref name="Johnson">{{cite web|last1=Carey|first1=Bill|title=First African-American student left many legacies|url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Register/feb10_03/20030212johnson.html|publisher=Vanderbilt University|access-date=May 10, 2015|date=February 12, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228005918/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Register/feb10_03/20030212johnson.html|archive-date=December 28, 2015}}</ref> In 1960, under intense pressure from the Vanderbilt Board of Trust, especially [[James Geddes Stahlman]], a Trustee and the influential editor of the local newspaper, Branscomb expelled Divinity student [[James Lawson (American activist)|James Lawson]]. Lawson was a [[Congress of Racial Equality]] leader who organized sit-ins in defiance of Nashville's segregation laws. A dozen faculty members resigned in protest. Branscomb later re-examined his decision, regretting he did not consider referring it to committee to delay action for three months until Lawson's graduation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Branscomb |first=Harvie |title=Purely Academic: An Autobiography |publisher=Vanderbilt University |year=1978 |location=Nashville, TN |pages=152–65 |language=English}}</ref>  The school was placed on probation for a year by the [[American Association of Theological Schools]], and the power of trustees was curtailed.<ref name="sumner34">{{cite journal |last1=Sumner |first1=David E. |date=Spring 1997 |title=The Publisher and the Preacher: Racial Conflict at Vanderbilt University |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=34–43 |jstor=42627327}}</ref> The university took Stahlman's $5 million donation in 1972–1973,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Fontenay|first1=Charles L.|title=Stahlman Suffers Stroke; Condition Termed Critical |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/112583435/?terms=%22James%2BG.%2BStahlman%22|access-date=December 17, 2017|work=The Tennessean |date=May 1, 1976|pages=1; 8|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref> and named a professorship in his honor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jefferson Cowie, James G. Stahlman Professor of History|url=https://as.vanderbilt.edu/history/bio/jefferson-cowie |website=Department of History|publisher=Vanderbilt University}}</ref> In 2005, Lawson was re-hired as a Distinguished University Professor for the 2006–2007 academic year. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus for his achievements.<ref name="Lawson stuff">{{cite news|last=Patterson|first=Jim|title=The Rev James Lawson to return as visiting professor|work=The Vanderbilt Register|date=January 30, 2006|url=http://news.vanderbilt.edu/archived-news/register/articles/index-id=24339.html|access-date=January 10, 2007|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305015947/http://news.vanderbilt.edu/archived-news/register/articles/index-id=24339.html}}</ref>

In May 1962 the Board of Trustees approved a recommendation from Chancellor Branscomb to admit [[African Americans]] in all of the university's educational schools.<ref name=":1" /> The first black [[undergraduates]] entered the school in the fall of 1964.<ref name="Johnson" /> The university drew national attention in 1966 when it recruited [[Perry Wallace]], the first African American to play varsity basketball in the [[Southeastern Conference]] (SEC).<ref>{{cite web |title = Perry Wallace |publisher = Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame |url = http://www.tshf.net/inductees/2003Wallace.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724113948/http://www.tshf.net/inductees/2003Wallace.htm |archive-date = July 24, 2011 |year = 2003 |access-date = August 17, 2007}}</ref>  Wallace, from Nashville, played varsity basketball for Vanderbilt from 1967 to 1970, and faced considerable opposition from segregationists when playing at other SEC venues.<ref name="Wallace">{{cite web |url=http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/020713aaa.html |title=Wallace was first black player in SEC |access-date=August 3, 2015 |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017221952/http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/020713aaa.html  }}</ref> In 2004, a student-led drive to retire Wallace's jersey finally succeeded.<ref name="Wallace" />{{efn|Contrary to widely stated belief, however, Wallace was not the first African-American athlete in the SEC:
* Stephen Martin, who was attending [[Tulane University]] on an academic scholarship, [[Walk-on (sports)|walked on]] to Tulane's [[Tulane Green Wave baseball|baseball team]] in his sophomore season of 1966 (1965–66 school year), and earned [[Varsity letter|letters]] in that season as well as the 1967 and 1968 seasons. Martin is often overlooked as an SEC integration pioneer because his first season of 1966 was Tulane's last as an SEC member.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://tulanegreenwave.com/news/2013/5/16/Tulane_Mourns_the_Passing_of_Integration_Pioneer_Stephen_Martin_Sr_.aspx |title=Tulane Mourns the Passing of Integration Pioneer Stephen Martin Sr. |publisher=[[Tulane Green Wave]] |date=May 16, 2013 |access-date=January 30, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Maraniss |first=Andrew |date=2014 |title=Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South |publisher=[[Vanderbilt University Press]] |page=221 |isbn=978-0-8265-2024-1 |author-link=Andrew Maraniss }}</ref>
* At the same time that Wallace and another African-American basketball player, Godfrey Dillard (who transferred from Vanderbilt before playing in a varsity game),<ref name=usatoday>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/sec/2004-02-19-sec-trailblazer_x.htm|title=An SEC trailblazer gets his due|last=Carey|first=Jack |date=February 19, 2004|newspaper=USA Today |access-date=March 7, 2010}}</ref> enrolled as scholarship athletes at Vanderbilt, the [[University of Kentucky]] enrolled two African-American scholarship football players, Nate Northington and Greg Page. Since freshmen were not eligible to play varsity sports at the time, players who enrolled in school in 1966 could not play on varsity teams until 1967. Because the football season precedes the basketball season within the school year, both were set to become the first African-American scholarship athletes in the SEC, but Page suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury in a 1967 preseason practice and died from the complications on September 29, less than a week after Northington became the SEC's first black scholarship athlete when he played his first game for [[Kentucky Wildcats football|Kentucky]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-football/article103568827.html |title=UK reveals sculpture honoring first black football players |first=Mark |last=Story |newspaper=[[Lexington Herald-Leader]] |date=September 22, 2016 |access-date=January 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ukathletics.com/documents/2018/7/17/2018_KentuckyFBRecord_Book_WEB.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913074031/https://ukathletics.com/documents/2018/7/17/2018_KentuckyFBRecord_Book_WEB.pdf  |archive-date=September 13, 2018 |title=Pioneers of Integration in the SEC |work=2018 UK Football Record Book |publisher=[[Kentucky Wildcats]] |access-date=September 12, 2018 }}</ref>}}

In 1964, Vanderbilt held its first IMPACT Symposium, which has since become a university tradition of hosting speakers in a multi-day annual symposium to discuss current events and topics of a controversial nature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://studentorg.vanderbilt.edu/vpb/speakers/|title=Speakers|date=September 28, 2010}}</ref> Participants have included [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Stokely Carmichael]], [[Strom Thurmond]], [[Robert F. Kennedy]], [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Madeleine Albright]], [[Vicente Fox]], [[Ehud Barak]], and multiple Presidents of the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://studentorg.vanderbilt.edu/vpb/2014/02/19/impact-through-the-years/|title=IMPACT through the Decades|date=February 19, 2014}}</ref>

===1970s to present===
In March 1978, Vanderbilt hosted the South African tennis team in [[Memorial Gymnasium (Vanderbilt University)|Memorial Gymnasium]] for the [[1978 Davis Cup|Davis Cup]].<ref name="washpostustanochoiceondavis">{{cite news|last1=Lorge|first1=Barry|title=USTA: No Choice On Davis Clash With S. Africa|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1978/02/01/usta-no-choice-on-davis-clash-with-s-africa/290ff3e4-d0f7-414b-82d7-65f9b201a735/|access-date=July 10, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 1, 1978}}</ref> The match was disrupted by [[Sporting boycott of South Africa during the apartheid era|anti-apartheid protesters]] who chanted "Don't play with apartheid",<ref name="washpostustanochoiceondavis"/> and a [[copy editor]] for ''[[The Tennessean]]'' was removed by police.<ref name="nytimesusdaviscupteambeats">{{cite news|last1=Amdur|first1=Neil|title=U.S. Davis Cup Team Beats South Africa|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/20/archives/us-davis-cup-team-beats-south-africa-us-davis-cup-team-beats-south.html|access-date=July 10, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=March 20, 1978}}</ref>

In 1979, Vanderbilt acquired [[Peabody College]], then called the "George Peabody College for Teachers", residing on 53 acres adjacent to the university.<ref>{{cite web|title = History of Vanderbilt University |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/about/history/ |access-date = March 23, 2015}}</ref> Peabody College traces its history to the 1785 Davidson Academy.

[[File:Kirkland Hall at Vanderbilt University.jpg|thumb|Kirkland Hall at Vanderbilt University]]
In the early 1980s, Vanderbilt University was an investor the [[Corrections Corporation of America]] prior to its IPO.<ref name="harmon">Harmon L. Wray Jr., [http://beck.library.emory.edu/southernchanges/article.php?id=sc08-3_011 Cells for Sale] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201152305/http://beck.library.emory.edu/southernchanges/article.php?id=sc08-3_011 |date=February 1, 2016 }}, ''Southern Changes: The Journal of the [[Southern Regional Council]]'', Volume 8, Number 3, 1989</ref><ref name="donnaselmanbigbusiness">{{cite book |author1=Donna Selman |author2=Paul Leighton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qb3BAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA81|title=Punishment for Sale: Private Prisons, Big Business, and the Incarceration Binge |location=New York City |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |date=2010|pages=81–82|isbn=978-1-4422-0174-3|quote=Pre-IPO shareholders included Vanderbilt University, where Thomas Beasley received a law degree (and which has done some research favorable to private prisons).}}</ref> The company was co-founded by [[Thomas W. Beasley]], a Vanderbilt Law School alumnus who was honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award.<ref name="donnaselmanbigbusiness"/><ref name="vanderbiltawschooldistinguished">{{cite web |title=Distinguished Award Recipients |url=https://law.vanderbilt.edu/alumni/founders-circle/distinguished-award-recipients.php |website=Vanderbilt Law School |access-date=June 16, 2018}}</ref>

In 1989, the university began offering [[Posse Foundation]] [[scholarship]]s to groups of promising young leaders from urban backgrounds to increase their share of diverse students.<ref name="tennesseanhowvutacklestoughjob">{{cite news |title=How VU tackles tough job of lasooing more diversity |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/113192084/?terms=%22Posse%2BFoundation%22 |access-date=June 16, 2018 |work=The Tennessean |date=November 19, 1995|page=58|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref> By 1995, 4.23% of the undergraduate student body was African-American.<ref name="tennesseanhowvutacklestoughjob"/>

In 2001, the university determined to remodel the [[Undergraduate education|undergraduate]] experience by creating an academic residential college system.  Since then Vanderbilt has been constructing new buildings and renovating existing structures to support the college system.<ref name=Dobie>{{Cite web|last=Dobie|first=Bruce|title=Campus Revolution|url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/campus-revolution/article_93aa8858-ec60-5140-8da1-e079f9883c75.html|access-date=2022-02-05|website=Nashville Scene|date=April 18, 2002 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=600M>{{Cite web|date=2018-01-24|title=Vanderbilt to add 4 residential colleges in $600M project|url=https://apnews.com/article/853a24a8cfa94f48b7fbb44ebdf6a777|access-date=2022-02-05|website=The Associated Press|language=en}}</ref>

In 2002, the university decided to rename [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] Memorial Hall, a residence hall on the Peabody campus to Memorial Hall.<ref>{{cite news |title = Confederate Memorial Hall renamed Memorial Hall |work = The Vanderbilt Register |date = September 19, 2002 |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=3316 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120212182347/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=3316 |archive-date = February 12, 2012 |access-date = May 24, 2007 }}</ref> Nationwide attention resulted, in part due to a lawsuit by the Tennessee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.<ref>{{cite news |last = Latt |first= Elizabeth P |title = Court ruling supports Vanderbilt decision to change name of building |work = The Vanderbilt Register |date = October 1, 2003 |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=6663 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120212182351/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=6663 |archive-date=February 12, 2012 |access-date = May 24, 2007 }}</ref> The Davidson County Chancery Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2003, but the [[Tennessee Court of Appeals]] ruled in May 2005 that the university must pay damages based on the present value of the United Daughters of the Confederacy's contribution if the inscription bearing the name "Confederate Memorial Hall" was removed from the building or altered.<ref>{{cite news |title = Appeals court rules on Memorial Hall dispute |work = The Vanderbilt Register |date = May 5, 2005 |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=19550 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212182359/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=19550 |archive-date = February 12, 2012 |access-date = May 24, 2007 }}</ref> The Court of Appeals' decision has been critiqued by legal scholars.<ref>{{cite news |last = Brophy |first= Alfred L. |title = The Law and Morality of Building Renaming |work = South Texas Law Review  |year = 2010  |url = http://blurblawg.typepad.com/files/lmbr.pdf  }} Brophy's article "concludes with a caution that renaming can lead to the forgetting of historical context and an observation that memory is more important than renaming" (p. 37).</ref> In late July 2005, the university announced that although it had officially renamed the building, and all university publications and offices will refer to it solely as ''Memorial Hall'', the university would neither appeal the matter further, nor remove the inscription and pay damages.<ref>{{cite news |title = Vanderbilt drops suit over Memorial Hall |work = The Vanderbilt Register |date = July 25, 2005 |url = http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=20856 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212182403/http://www.vanderbilt.edu/register/articles?id=20856 |archive-date = February 12, 2012 |access-date = May 24, 2007 }}</ref> In August 2016, the university agreed to remove the word "Confederate" from the building after "anonymous donors" donated $1.2 million to repay the United Daughters of the Confederacy.<ref name="tennesseanvanderbilttoremoveconfederate">{{cite news|last1=Tamburin|first1=Adam|title=Vanderbilt to remove 'Confederate' from building name|url=http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2016/08/15/vanderbilt-remove-confederate-building-name/88771680/|access-date=August 15, 2016|work=The Tennessean|date=August 15, 2016|quote=Anonymous donors recently gave the university the $1.2 million needed for that purpose; the Vanderbilt Board of Trust authorized the move this summer.}}</ref>

In 2009, Vanderbilt instituted a no-loan policy. The policy states that any student granted admission and a need-based aid package will have an award that includes no student loans.<ref>{{cite web |title=Need-Based Financial Aid at Vanderbilt |url=http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2010/08/need-based-financial-aid-at-vanderbilt/|website=Vanderbilt.edu |access-date=July 24, 2015}}</ref> Following this, in 2015, Vanderbilt implemented Opportunity Vanderbilt, which committed the university to need-blind admissions, meeting 100% of demonstrated financial need of admitted students, and including only grants in awards.<ref name="thetennesseandonorsgive200million">{{cite news |title=Donors give $200 million to support Vanderbilt financial aid program |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/105001318/?terms=%22opportunity%2Bvanderbilt%22 |access-date=June 16, 2018 |work=The Tennessean |date=May 14, 2015|page=A5|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|url-access=registration }}</ref>

In 2011, the [[Oakland Institute]] exposed a university investment in [[EMVest Asset Management]], a private equity firm "accused of '[[land grabbing]],' or taking over agricultural land used by local communities through exploitative practices for large-scale commercial export farming in five sub-Saharan African countries.<ref name="oaklandfeb13">{{Cite web|date=2013-02-13|title=Vanderbilt University Divests from "Land Grab" in Africa|url=https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/vanderbilt-university-divests-land-grab-africa|access-date=2022-02-05|website=oaklandinstitute.org|language=en-US}}</ref> The revelation led to student protests in 2012.<ref name="oaklandfeb13" /><ref name="guardianlandgrab">{{Cite web|date=2011-06-08|title=US universities in Africa 'land grab'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/08/us-universities-africa-land-grab|access-date=2022-02-05|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> By 2013, Vanderbilt administrators had divested from EMVest.<ref name="oaklandfeb13" />

In 2012, Vanderbilt built Elliston Hall in honor of Elizabeth Boddie Elliston of the Burlington Plantation.<ref name="usatodaybeyondyale"/>

In 2015, Vanderbilt opened a new innovation center, the Wond'ry, as part of its Academic Strategic Plan. The three-story, 13,000-square foot building is meant to serve as an interdisciplinary hub of knowledge for the Vanderbilt community, serving as the location of [[hackathon]]s, partnerships with the Nashville Entrepreneurship Center, and several social venture programs.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2016/11/14/vanderbilts-wondry-spurs-school-wide-innovation/93292086/|title=Vanderbilt's Wond'ry spurs school-wide innovation|newspaper=The Tennessean|access-date=December 28, 2016}}</ref>