Barber–Scotia College

Barber–Scotia College

Motto	Lumen Veritas et Utilitas
Motto in English	Knowledge, Truth, and Service
Type	Private, HBCU
Established	1867
Affiliation	Presbyterian Church (USA)
Officer in charge	Brenda Simms
Chairman	Barry Green
Students	Currently Closed [1]
Location	Concord, North Carolina, United States
Colors	Royal Blue and Gray
Sports	Independent Track, Men's and Women's Basketball (Beginning Fall 2009)
Mascot	Saber-tooth tiger
Affiliations	Applicant for Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools Accreditation (January 2009)
Website	www.b-sc.edu

Barber–Scotia College
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	145 Cabarrus Ave. West, Concord, North Carolina
Coordinates	35°24′23″N 80°35′9″W / 35.40639°N 80.58583°W / 35.40639; -80.58583Coordinates: 35°24′23″N 80°35′9″W / 35.40639°N 80.58583°W / 35.40639; -80.58583
Built	1876
Architect	Ahrens,F. W.
Architectural style	Colonial Revival, Second Empire, Italianate
NRHP Reference #	85000378 [2]
Added to NRHP	February 28, 1985

Barber–Scotia College is a historically black college located in Concord, North Carolina, United States.^[3][4][5][6]

History

Scotia Seminary

Barber–Scotia began as a female seminary in 1867. Scotia Seminary was founded by the Reverend Luke Dorland and chartered in 1870. This was a project by the Presbyterian Church to prepare young African American southern women (the daughters of former slaves) for careers as social workers and teachers. It was the coordinate women's school for Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University).^[7]

It was the first historically black female institution of higher education established after the American Civil War. The Charlotte Observer, in an interview with Janet Magaldi, president of Piedmont Preservation Foundation, stated, "Scotia Seminary was one of the first black institutions built after the Civil War. For the first time, it gave black women an alternative to becoming domestic servants or field hands."^[8]

Scotia Seminary was modeled after Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) and was referred to as "The Mount Holyoke of the South".^{[9][10][11][12]} The seminary offered grammar, science, and domestic arts. In 1908 it had 19 teachers and 291 students. From its founding in 1867 to 1908 it had enrolled 2,900 students, with 604 having graduated from the grammar department and 109 from the normal department.^[11] Faith Hall, built in 1891, was the first dormitory at Scotia Seminary. It is listed in National Register of Historic Places and "is one of only four 19th-century institutional buildings left in Cabarrus County." It was closed by the college during the 1970s due to lack of funds for its maintenance.^[8]

1916–2004

It was renamed to Scotia Women's College in 1916. In 1930, the seminary was merged with another female institution, Barber Memorial College, which was founded in 1896 in Anniston, Alabama by Margaret M. Barber as a memorial to her husband.^[14][15] This merger created Barber–Scotia Junior College for women.^[16]

The school granted its first bachelor's degree in 1945, and became a four-year women's college in 1946. In 1954, Barber–Scotia College became a coeducational institution and received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Today, the college maintains close ties to the Presbyterian Church.^[13]

2004–2008

On June 24, 2004, one week after appointing its new president, Gloria Bromell Tinubu, the college learned that it had lost its accreditation which meant that students became ineligible for federal aid (an estimated 90% of the school's students depended on federally funded aid) and that many employees would be laid off.^[17][18] It lost its accreditation due to what the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools said was a failure to comply with SACS Principles and Philosophy of Accreditation (Integrity), as the school "awarded degrees to nearly 30 students in the adult program who SACS determined hadn’t fulfilled the proper requirements".^[18]

Former President Sammie Potts resigned in February when it became public. As over 90% of the students at Barber–Scotia received some sort of federal financial aid, when the campus lost accreditation and was therefore no longer eligible to receive federal financial aid for its students, under the Department of Education enrollment then dropped from 600 students in 2004 to 91 students in 2005 and on-campus housing was closed down.^[19]

During her tenure President Gloria Bromell Tinubu led a strategic planning effort to change the college from a four-year liberal arts program to a college of entrepreneurship and business, and established partnerships with accredited colleges and top-tiered universities.^[19] She would later leave the college when the new Board leadership decided to pursue religious studies instead. Former President and alumna Mable Parker McLean was hired as president on an interim basis.^[19][20] In February 2006 a committee of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to continue the denomination's financial support for Barber–Scotia, noting that its physical facilities were "substantial and well-secured" and that the school was undertaking serious planning for the future.^[21] In May 2006, it was reported that Barber–Scotia would rent space on its campus to St. Augustine's College to use for an adult-education program: "Under the terms of the deal, St. Augustine's will pay Barber–Scotia for the space for its Gateway degree program starting this fall." ^[22]

McLean was replaced by President David Olah who accepted the position without payment and the college re-opened with a limited number of students.^[23] During this time, the "previous attempts to revive the college [which] have centered on an entrepreneurial or business curriculum" were formally abandoned "in favor of focusing more on religious studies." Flamer also worked to eliminate debt and worked with alumni and the community to save the college.^[24] Olah left in 2015, to be replaced by Yvonne Tracey,^[25] who departed at the end of 2015.

2009 - 2016

Barber–Scotia had an enrollment of 120 full-time students. The college offered the following four degree programs: Bachelor of Arts in Business, Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management and a Bachelor of Science in Bio-Energy. Each academic discipline has several fields of concentrations. Due to increasing financial problems, the school closed for the Spring Semester of the 2015-2016 academic year ^[1]

Athletics

Barber–Scotia College's athletic programs, known athletically as the Sabers, are members of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). Barber–Scotia formerly competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily in the now-defunct Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (EIAC) until the end of the 2004-05 season, during the time the school lost its accreditation and could no longer field athletics teams. B-SC currently fields a men's and women's basketball team, when its athletic program was re-instated in the 2009-10 season. Barber–Scotia also fields a men's post-graduate basketball team. It is also exploring adding additional athletic programs, such as men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and track and field.

Notable alumni

One of Scotia Seminary's most notable alumnae was Mary McLeod Bethune, advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.,^[26] who also started a school for black students in Daytona Beach, Florida that eventually became Bethune–Cookman University.

Additional reading

• Cozart, Leland Stanford. A Venture of Faith: Barber–Scotia College, 1867–1967. Charlotte, NC: Heritage Printers, 1976.
• Gross, Leslie. "Faith Hall: A Landmark in Need of Friends." The Charlotte Observer. May 9, 1999: 3K.
• Barber–Scotia College. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1985.
• African American Registry. "History of Scotia Seminary"
• Scotia Seminary 1881–82 Catalogue
• Scotia Seminary: North Carolina and Its Resources (1896)
• State Library of North Carolina. "Scotia Seminary, Concord N.C. (1908)"
• Data for Historically Black Colleges and Universities: 1976–1994 – Government publication which includes enrollment statistics for Barber–Scotia College

References

External links

• Official website

Photographs

• Postcard images of Scotia Seminary – University of North Carolina
• Photograph of Scotia Seminary, 1893
• Buds of Promise – 19th century graduates of Scotia Seminary
• Sarah Dudley Petty, Scotia Seminary – Class of 1883
• Photographs of Barber-Scotia and Marker

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Topics Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types Lists by county Alamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey Other lists Bridges National Historic Landmarks