University of Memphis - History

History

In 1909, the Tennessee Legislature enacted the General Education Bill. This bill stated that three colleges be established within each grand division of the state and one additional school for African-American students. After much bidding and campaigning, the state had to choose between two sites to build the new college for West Tennessee: Jackson, Tennessee and Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis was chosen, one of the main reasons being the proximity of the rail line to the site proposed to build the new college for West Tennessee. This would allow professors and students to go home and visit their relatives. The other three schools established through the General Education Act are modern-day East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University and Tennessee State University.

Prior to the establishment of the West Tennessee Normal School pursuant to the General Education Bill, a number of higher education departments existed in Memphis under the banner of the University of Memphis. This earlier University of Memphis was formed in 1909 by adding to an already existing medical school departments of pharmacy, dentistry, and law.

On September 10, 1912, West Tennessee Normal School opened in Memphis; its first president was Seymour A. Mynders. By 1913 all departments of the earlier University of Memphis, except the law school, had been taken over by the State University. After Mynders' death in 1913, John Willard Brister was chosen to take his place. After Brister's resignation in 1918, Andrew A. Kincannon became president. In 1924, Brister returned to his post as president of the school.

The name changed in 1925 to West Tennessee State Teachers College. In 1931, the campus' first newspaper, The Tiger Rag, was established. In 1939, Richard C. Jones became president of WTSTC. In 1941, the school was changed to Memphis State College, when the college expanded its liberal arts curriculum. In 1943, Dr. Jennings B. Sanders succeeded Jones as president. Three years later, the first alumnus to become president, J. Millard (Jack) Smith, was appointed. In 1951 MSC awarded its first B.A. degrees. In 1957 the school received full University status, and changed its name accordingly.

In 1959, five years after Brown v. Board of Education the University admitted its first black students. Because racial segregation was the norm throughout the South at the time the Memphis State Eight, as they were known, were admitted to Memphis State University, their presence on campus was the focus not only of intense media scrutiny, but severe criticism from much of the local public. Ostensibly for the black students' safety and to maintain an air of calm on the campus, University administrators placed certain restrictions on where and when the black students could be on campus. They were to go only to their classes, not to any of the public places on campus, such as the cafeteria; and they were to leave the campus immediately after they had finished their last class. These limitations were lifted after the novelty of their presence on campus had subsided and the public’s focus on their presence there had lessened, and as more and more black students were admitted to the University. Today, black students make up more than one-third of the campus student body and they participate fully in all campus activities.

Dr. Cecil C. Humphreys became president of MSU, succeeding Smith, in 1960. In 1966, the school began awarding doctoral degrees. Humphreys resigned as MSU president to become the first chancellor of the newly formed State University and Community College System, later renamed the Tennessee Board of Regents. John Richardson was appointed interim president.

In 1973, Dr. Billy Mac Jones became president. Also that year, the Memphis State Tiger men's basketball team reached the finals of the NCAA tournament, only to fall at the hands of a UCLA team led by future NBA star Bill Walton in the championship game in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1980, Dr. Thomas Carpenter became president of MSU; he was succeeded by Dr. V. Lane Rawlins in 1991. On July 1, 1994, after years of research and surveys, Memphis State University changed its name again, to the University of Memphis – a name change inspired by Ms. Christina Trinh, wife of former president Carpenter.

Dr. Rawlins served for slightly over a decade; Dr. Ralph Faudree filled in as interim president for one year after Rawlins' retirement. In 2002, U of M installed its first female president, Dr. Shirley C. Raines, 62, who remains in office.