Olivet Nazarene University
Seal of Olivet Nazarene University
Motto	"Education with a Christian Purpose"§
Established	1907
Type	Private
Religious affiliation	Nazarene
Endowment	US $19,016,000[1]
President	John C. Bowling
Students	4,636
Undergraduates	3,190
Postgraduates	1,446
Location	Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States 41°09′13″N 87°52′34″W / 41.153620°N 87.876140°W / 41.153620; -87.876140Coordinates: 41°09′13″N 87°52′34″W / 41.153620°N 87.876140°W / 41.153620; -87.876140
Campus	Suburban
Former names	Miss Mary Nesbitt's Grammar School (1907-1909), Illinois Holiness University (1909-1915), Olivet University (1915-1923), Olivet College (1923-1939), Olivet Nazarene College (1939-1986)
Sports	Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country running, Football, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and field, and Volleyball
Colors	Purple and gold
Nickname	Tigers
Mascot	Tiger
Athletics	NAIA (CCAC)
Affiliations	CCCU, NCACS
Website	www.olivet.edu
§The motto on the original seal read "Truth and Justice" in Latin. "Education with a Christian purpose" was adopted in 1942.[2]

Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a Christian liberal arts college located in the village of Bourbonnais, Illinois. Named for Olivet, Illinois, ONU was first chartered as Illinois Holiness University in 1909 and was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907.

[edit] History

A "product of lay initiative," Olivet traces its roots to 1907 when a group of families in East-Central Illinois started a school to provide a Christian education for their children.^[3] Classes at Miss Mary Nesbitt's grammar school were first held in a house in Georgetown, Illinois. In 1908, the school's founders acquired 14 acres^[4] in the village of Olivet, and moved the grammar school to the proposed campus.^[5] A Wesleyan–holiness community sprang up around the school.^[6]

In 1909, the liberal arts college was chartered by the Eastern Illinois Holiness Association and named Illinois Holiness University, with A. M. Hills from Texas Holiness University as its first president.^[4] It was then given to the Church of the Nazarene in 1912, with E. F. Walker as president, and inherited one of the most populated Nazarene regions in the United States.^[4] It was renamed Olivet University in 1915,^[7] and again in 1921 to Olivet College.^[8]

The economic solvency of the school became a problem in the 1920s, and the trustees were forced to declare bankruptcy in 1926. The school's treasurer, T. W. Willingham, purchased the school back at an auction and was elected president. In 1939, the main building on campus was destroyed by fire.^[5] This prompted the school to look for a new location. Under President A.L. Parrott, the school moved in 1940, onto the previous 42-acre (170,000 m²) campus of St. Viator's College.^[9] With the move, the school's name was changed to Olivet Nazarene College (ONC).^[8] The school's name was changed again in 1986 to Olivet Nazarene University (ONU).^[5]

[edit] Campus

ONU's campus is 250 acres (1.0 km²) in the village of Bourbonnais, Illinois, outside the city of Kankakee, Illinois,^[10] with 30 buildings.^[11] Four buildings are original from St. Viator College. There are also satellite campuses for adult education in Rolling Meadows, Illinois and Hong Kong.^[12]

[edit] Organization

ONU is one of eight regional U.S. liberal arts colleges^[13] affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene.^[14] ONU is the college for the "Central USA Region" of the United States.^[15] In terms of the Church of the Nazarene, the "Central Region" comprises the Wisconsin, Northwestern Illinois, Illinois, Chicago Central, Northern Michigan, Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northwest Indiana, Northeastern Indiana, Indianapolis, and Southwest Indiana districts, which include Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.^[16] Each college receives financial backing from the Nazarene churches on its region; part of each church budget is paid into a fund for its regional school. Each college or university is also bound by a gentlemen's agreement not to actively recruit outside its respective "educational region."^[17]

[edit] Academics

ONU has been accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1956^[12] and offers bachelor's degrees in 67 academic majors.^[18] The School of Graduate and Continuing Studies offers master's degrees, nontraditional adult degree-completion programs, and a doctor of education degree only offered at Rolling Meadows as well as a master of "professional counseling" degree offered at a site in Hong Kong and distance education for a master in education degree.^[12] The 2007 acceptance rate for students who applied to the college was 70.3 percent.^[19]

[edit] Graduation gap

A report released in April 2008 found that, of the institutions surveyed throughout the U.S. based on data provided under the 1990 Student Right-to-Know Act, ONU had the seventh-largest gap between the average graduation rate for white students and the average graduation rate for black students. White students had an average graduation rate of 56 percent, one point below the national average for all students, while black students at ONU were found to have an average graduation rate of 17 percent, 38 points below their white peers.^[20]

[edit] Academic freedom

In 2007, President John C. Bowling prohibited ONU alumnus and faculty member Richard G. Colling from teaching general biology and banned Colling's 2004 book: Random Designer: Created from Chaos to Connect with Creator (Browning Press: ISBN 0975390406).^[21] In 2009, the conclusion of an American Association of University Professors (AAUP) investigation^[22] found problems with shared governance at ONU and that Colling's rights had been violated^[23] when Bowling placed the concerns of two fundamentalist District Superintendents in the Church of the Nazarene above ONU's principles of academic freedom.^[24]

[edit] Student life

ONU athletics logo

There were 4,636 student at the college in 2007, 3,190 of whom were undergraduates.^[25] ONU students are from 40 states and 20 countries, and represent 30 Christian denominations.^[11] 9 percent of the student population is black.^[20]

[edit] Athletics

The purple and gold colors and the "Tigers" athletic nickname at Olivet Nazarene have existed since 1940, when ONC students first played Bethany Nazarene College (BNC), and intervarsity athletics began with another game between ONC and BNC in 1966.^[26] Men's varsity teams include Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country running, football, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, and Track and field. Women's varsity sports include Basketball, Cross country running, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and field, and Volleyball. Since 2002, the Chicago Bears have held their summer training camp there. Originally affiliated with the Division III Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 1974 to 1997, ONU became a charter member of the Mid-States Football Association in 1994, and now competes in both the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the North-Central Region of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).

[edit] Notable persons

Notable alumni include Nazarene General Superintendents J. Kenneth Grider and Paul Cunningham, former Eastern Nazarene College president R. Wayne Gardner, who also served on the faculty at both ENC and ONU, current faculty member Richard G. Colling, and Ben Zobrist, the second-baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Official website