Vanderbilt University

===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"/>
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