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Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a state university located in Auburn, Alabama, in the United States. With over 23,000 students and 1,200 faculty, it is the second-largest university in the state and according to U.S. News & World Report, has a selectivity rating of "more selective." Auburn was chartered on February 1, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The college was donated to the state of Alabama in 1872, when it became the state's public land-grant university under the Morrill Act and was renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1892, the college became the first four-year coeducational school in the state. The college was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API) in 1899. In 1960, its name was officially changed to Auburn University, as it had long been popularly known. Auburn is one of only 13 American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research center.
History
Post-Civil War The school was reopened in 1866 following the end of the Civil War and has been open ever since. In 1872, control of the institution was transferred from the Methodist Church to the State of Alabama for financial reasons. Alabama placed the school under the provisions of the Morrill Act as a land-grant institution, the first in the South to be established separate from the state university. This act provided for 240,000 acres (971 km²) of Federal land to be sold in order to provide funds for an agricultural and mechanical school. As a result, in 1872 the school was renamed to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. Under the provisions of this act, land-grant institutions were also supposed to teach military tactics and train officers for the United States military. In the late 1800s, most students at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama were enrolled in the cadet program, learning military tactics and training to become future officers. Each county in the state was allowed to nominate two cadets to attend the college free of charge. In 1892, two historic events occurred: women were first admitted to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, and football was first played as a school sport. Eventually, football replaced polo as the main sport on campus. In 1899, the school name was again changed, this time to Alabama Polytechnic Institute. On October 1, 1918, nearly all of Alabama Polytechnic Institute's able-bodied male students 18 or older voluntarily joined the United States Army for short-lived military careers on campus. The student-soldiers numbered 878, according to API President Charles Thach, and formed the academic section of the Student Army Training Corps. The vocational section was composed of enlisted men sent to Auburn for training in radio and mechanics. The students received honorable discharges two months later following the Armistice that ended World War I. API struggled through the great depression, having scrapped an extensive expansion program by then-President Bradford Knapp. Faculty salaries were cut drastically, and enrollment decreased along with state appropriations to the college. During World War II, API again found its place training officers for the U.S. Military on campus; Auburn produced over 32,000 troops for the war effort. Following the end of World War II, API, like many colleges around the country, experienced a period of massive growth caused by returning soldiers taking advantage of their GI Bill offer of free education. In the five-year period following the end of the war, enrollment at API more than doubled. Name Change: Auburn Recognizing that the school had moved beyond its agricultural and mechanical roots, it was granted university status by the Alabama Legislature in 1960 and officially renamed Auburn University, a name that better expressed the varied academic programs and expanded curriculum that the school had been offering for years. Like most universities in the American South, Auburn was racially segregated prior to 1963, with only white students being admitted. Compared to the images of George Wallace standing in the door of the University of Alabama, integration went smoothly at Auburn, with the first African-American student being admitted in 1964, and the first doctoral degree being granted to an African-American in 1967. Today, Auburn has grown since its founding in 1856 to have the largest on-campus enrollment in the state of Alabama, with over 23,000 students and a faculty of almost 1,200 at the main campus in Auburn. Additionally, there are over 6,000 students at the Auburn University Montgomery satellite campus established in 1967. Academics
Housing For most of the early history of Auburn, boarding houses and barracks made up most of the student housing. Even into the 1970s, boarding houses were still available in the community. It wasn't until the great depression that Auburn began to construct the first buildings on campus that were "dorms" in the modern sense of the word. As the university gradually shifted away from agricultural and military instruction to more of an academic institution, more and more dorms began to replace the barracks and boarding houses. Auburn's first dorms were hardly luxurious. Magnolia Dormitory, built in the 1950s and demolished in 1987, was once used by the state of Alabama in its defense against a lawsuit brought by state prison inmates. The inmates claimed that housing two men in a cell of particularly small dimensions constituted 'cruel and unusual punishment.' The state argued in court that students at Auburn actually paid to live in even smaller living spaces—at Magnolia Dorm. The inmates lost the case. Its "twin", Noble Hall, used as a women's residence, was demolished only in 2005 and was condemned during at least the final year in which it was inhabited. In the last twenty years, the city of Auburn has experienced a rapid growth in the number of apartment complexes constructed. Most Auburn students today live off-campus in the apartment complexes and condos, which surround the immediate area around the university. Less than 25 percent of Auburn students live on campus. Auburn's on-campus student housing consists of three complexes located at various locations over campus. "The Quad" is the oldest of the four, dating to the great depression projects begun by the Works Progress Administration and located in Central Campus. Made up of 11 buildings, the Quad houses mostly undergraduates in coed, alternating-floor buildings. "The Hill" is made up of 14 buildings and is located in South Campus. The Hill houses mostly undergraduate women with the exception of the two high-rise dormitories (Boyd and Sasnett), which are coed on alternating floors. "The Extension" is a block of six buildings (labeled A, B, C, D, E, and F), each comprised of two-bedroom apartments, housing undergraduates. "The Village," formerly known as married student housing, recently housed a variety of students, to include undegraduates, graduates, and married students. In late 2005, this housing complex was closed to students and was later demolished during the summer and early fall of 2006. Greek life Male Greeks in Auburn are roughly divided into two separate areas: Old Row and New Row. "Old Row" traditionally was made up of the fraternities whose houses were located along Magnolia Avenue on the north side of campus. "New Row" is made up of fraternities whose houses were located along Lem Morrison Drive southwest of campus. However, being an "Old Row" or "New Row" fraternity doesn't really depend on where the house is located but on the age of the fraternity. Ergo, there are some "Old Row" fraternities with houses on "New Row" Lem Morrison Drive because they moved there. Today's "Old Row" on and around Magnolia Avenue was once the "New Row," as the first generation of fraternity houses at Auburn were on or near College Street. Most of these houses were demolished by the end of the 1970s, and only two fraternity houses remain on College today. Sororities are located not in individual houses like Auburn fraternities, but in the dorms located on the Hill. This has had the unintended side effect of keeping dues for these sororities among the lowest in the nation. Each dorm has a sorority "chapter" room within it for the sorority designated to that dorm. Greek Life is important at Auburn, but not a requirement for experiencing Auburn life. Roughly 18 percent of men and 34 percent of women are in Greek organizations at Auburn. Some say that because of the low percentages there is a marked lack of animosity between Greeks and independents. Athletics Auburn University's sports teams are known as the Tigers, and they participate in Division I-A of the NCAA and in the Western Division of the 12-member Southeastern Conference (SEC). Auburn routinely fields nationally competitive teams in football, men's and women's swimming and diving, baseball and women's basketball. Football Auburn's football program, currently coached by Tommy Tuberville, has been one of the most successful National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A college football programs in the last 50 years. Past coaches include John Heisman, Mike Donahue, Ralph "Shug" Jordan, Pat Dye, and Terry Bowden. Two Auburn players, Bo Jackson in 1985 and Pat Sullivan in 1971, have won the Heisman Trophy. The Trophy's namesake, John Heisman, coached at Auburn from 1895 until 1899. Auburn is the only school where Heisman coached (among others, Georgia Tech and Clemson) that has produced a Heisman Trophy winner. Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium has a capacity of 87,451 ranking as the eighth-largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA as of December 2005. Auburn played its first game in 1892 against the University of Georgia at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia starting what is currently the oldest college football rivalry in the Deep South. The Tigers' first bowl appearance was in 1937 in the sixth Bacardi Bowl played in Havana, Cuba. As of 2005, AU football has won six SEC Conference Championships, and since the division of the conference in 1992, six western division championships and three trips to the SEC Championship game. Auburn plays archrival Alabama each year in a game known as the Iron Bowl. Auburn completed the 2004 football season with a 13–0 record winning the SEC championship, the school's first conference title since 1989 and the first outright title since 1987. However, this achievement was somewhat overshadowed by the Tigers being left out of the BCS championship game in deference to two other undefeated, higher ranked teams, USC and Oklahoma. The 2004 team was led by quarterback Jason Campbell, running backs Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown, and cornerback Carlos Rogers, all subsequently drafted in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. The team gained a new offensive coordinator, Al Borges, who led the team to use the west coast style offense which maximized the use of both star running backs. Swimming and diving In the last decade under head coach David Marsh, Auburn's swimming and diving program has become a dynasty both in the SEC and nationally, with consecutive NCAA championships for both the men and women in 2003 and 2004. The men won their fourth consecutive national title in 2006, and the women also won the national title. The Auburn women have now won four national championships in the last eight years. As of 2006, the Auburn men have won the SEC Championship twelve out of the last thirteen years, including the last ten in a row, and also won six NCAA national championships (1997, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 *.) Coach Marsh, who has been an U.S. Olympic coach, is considered one of the top three swim coaches in the world ; and AU swimmers have represented the U.S. and several other countries in recent Olympic Games. Auburn's most famous swimmer is Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines, winner of three gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Auburn's most successful female Olympic swimmer is Kirsty Coventry (swimming for her home country of Zimbabwe) who won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Mens basketball The Auburn men's basketball team has enjoyed off-and-on success over the years. Its best known player is Charles Barkley. Other NBA players from Auburn are Eddie Johnson, Mike Mitchell, Chuck Person, Chris Morris, Wesley Person, Chris Porter, Mamadou N'diaye, Jamison Brewer, Moochie Norris, Marquis Daniels, and Pat Burke. Womens basketball The Auburn University women's basketball team has been consistently competitive both nationally and within the SEC. Despite playing in the same conference as perenial powerhouse Tennessee and other competitive programs such as LSU, Georgia, and Vanderbilt, Auburn has won four regular season SEC championships and four SEC Tournament championships. AU has made sixteen appearances in the NCAA women's basketball tournament and only once, in their first appearance in 1982, have the Tigers lost in the first round. Auburn played in three consecutive National Championship games from 1988–1990 and won the Women's NIT in 2003. When Coach Joe Ciampi retired at the end of the 2003–2004 season, Auburn hired former Purdue and U.S. National and Olympic team head coach, Nell Fortner. Standout former Auburn players include: Ruthie Bolton, Vickie Orr, Carolyn Jones, Chantel Tremitiere and Monique Morehouse. Baseball Auburn Baseball has won six SEC championships, three SEC Tournament championships, appeared in sixteen NCAA Regionals and reached the College World Series (CWS) four times. After a disappointing 2003–2004 season, former Auburn assistant coach Tom Slater was named head coach. Samford Stadium-Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park is considered one of the finest facilities in college baseball and has a seating capacity of 4,096, not including lawn areas. In addition to Bo Jackson, Auburn has supplied several other stand-out players to Major League Baseball, including Frank Thomas, Gregg Olson, Scott Sullivan, Tim Hudson, Mark Bellhorn, and Gabe Gross. Womens Golf Auburn's Women's Golf team has risen to be extremely competitive in the NCAA in recent years. Since 1999, they hold a 854-167-13(.826 win percentage)record. The team have been in five NCAA finals and finished second in 2002 and then third in 2005. The program has a total of five SEC Championships. In October of 2005, Auburn was named the Since 1996, the team has been headed by Coach Kim Evans, a 1981 alumna, who has turned the program into one of the most competitive in the nation. Coach Evans has helped develop All-Americans, SEC Players of the Year as well as three SEC Freshman of the Year. She has lead the Tigers to eight-straight NCAA appearances. Track and Field The Auburn women's track and field team won its first ever national title in 2006 at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, scoring 57 points to win over the University of Southern California, which finished second with 38.5 points. Auburn posted All-American performances in nine events, including two individual national champions and three second-place finishers, and broke two school records during the four-day event. Auburn's men's team finished second at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships and at the 1978, 1997 and 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships. The women's team finished 14th (2002, 2003) at the Outdoor Championships and seventh (2003) at the Indoor Championships. Equestrian Auburn's Equestrian team captured the 2006 national championship, the first equestrian national championship in school history. Senior Kelly Gottfried and junior Whitney Kimble posted team-high scores in their respective divisions as the Auburn equestrian team clinched the overall national championship at the 2006 Varsity Equestrian Championships at the EXPO/New Mexico State Fairgrounds in Albuquerque, N.M. Tiger Walk Two hours before the kickoff of each Auburn home football game, thousands of Auburn fans line Donahue Drive to cheer on the team as they walk from Sewell Hall (the former athletes' dormitory) to Jordan-Hare Stadium. The tradition began in the 1960s when groups of kids would walk up the street to greet the team and get autographs. During the tenure of coach Doug Barfield, the coach urged fans to come out and support the team, and thousands did. Today the team, led by the coaches, walks down the hill and into the stadium surrounded by fans who pat them on the back and shake their hands as they walk. To date, the largest Tiger Walk occurred on December 2, 1989, before the first ever home football game against rival Alabama—the Iron Bowl. On that day, an estimated 20,000 fans packed the one block section of road leading to the stadium. According to former athletic director David Housel, Tiger Walk has become "the most copied tradition in all of college football."* Toomers Corner The intersection of Magnolia and College streets in Auburn, which marks the transition from downtown Auburn to the university campus, is known as Toomer's Corner. It is named after Toomer's Drugs, a small store on the corner that has been an Auburn landmark for over 100 years. Hanging over the corner are two massive old-growth oak trees, and whenever there is cause for celebration in the Auburn communtity, the trees are festooned with toilet paper. Also known as "rolling the corner," this tradition is said to have begun when Toomer's Drugs had the only telegraph in the city. During away football games, when employees of the local drug store received news of a win, they would roll the oak trees to signal a win to the public. Traditionally only used as a way to celebrate football victories, in recent years it has become a way to celebrate anything good that happens concerning Auburn. War Eagle The Auburn University battle cry is "War Eagle". It originated as an expression of support of Auburn's athletic teams, but today is also commonly used as a greeting between members of the Auburn community. The cry is yelled in unison by spectators for kickoffs of football games and tipoffs of basketball games. In 1930, Auburn gained a live golden eagle as a mascot who was nicknamed "Tiger". Today, the sixth "War Eagle" lives at a raptor center on the Auburn campus, and is featured before football games by a flight in which the eagle circles the stadium before landing at mid-field. The Auburn fight song is also titled "War Eagle". Wreck Tech Pajama Parade The Wreck Tech Pajama Parade originated in 1896, when a group of mischievous Auburn cadets, determined to show up the more well-known engineers from Georgia Tech, sneaked out of their dorms the night before the football game between Auburn and Tech and greased the railroad tracks. According to the story, the train carrying the Georgia Tech team slid through town and didn't stop until it was halfway to the neighboring town of Loachapoka, Alabama, The Georgia Tech team was forced to walk the five miles back to Auburn and, not surprisingly, was weary at the end of their journey, likely contributing to their subsequent 45–0 loss. While the railroad long ago ceased to be the way teams traveled to Auburn and students never greased the tracks again, the tradition continues in the form of a parade through downtown Auburn. Students parade through the streets in their pajamas and organizations build floats. This tradition has recently been renewed with Georgia Tech returning to Auburn's schedule after nearly two decades of absence. The Auburn University Marching Band The Auburn University Marching Band has been cited as one of the nation's finest university marching bands. The band has long performed at school football games and pep rallies. The band was awarded the 2004 Sudler Intercollegiate Marching Band Trophy, one of the nation's highest awards for college and university marching bands. The Auburn University Marching Band marched in the United States Presidential Inaugural Parade (for President George W. Bush) in 2005. The visual ensemble of the Auburn University Marching Band is known as the "Tiger Eyes". The Tiger Eyes are comprised of three distinct lines--flags, twirlers, and dancers--that complete complementary choreography. The three lines work together for one common visual effect as one single ensemble. Aubie Birmingham artist Phil Neel first drew the cartoon tiger Aubie in the late 1950s. From 1958 through 1976, Aubie was featured on the cover of all of Auburn’s home football game programs. In 1979, James Lloyd, spirit director for the Auburn Student Government Association, brought Aubie to life when he ordered a man-sized Tiger costume based upon the cartoon and wore it to the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament. Barry Mask became the first official Aubie in 1979-80, and his sideline and court-side hijinks created Aubie’s spirited personality. Recognized as one of the most successful college mascot in history, Aubie recently won his sixth national mascot championship through the Universal Cheerleaders’ Association in January 2006. Aubie was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame on August 15, 2006 at Love Park in Philadelphia, Pa. Media Politics General Interest Statistics Enrollment & SAT/ACT Scores Faculty Graduates Other alumni (did not graduate) Appearances See also Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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