Silliman Institute

Silliman Institute
Address
Bank Street Clinton, Louisiana United States
Information
Type	Private School
Established	1852
Headmaster	Ann Kent
Grades	Pre-K–12
Enrollment	app. 455
Color(s)	Green, Gold, & White
Mascot	Wildcat
Website	http://www.sillimaninstitute.org

Silliman Institute

Silliman Institute is a private coeducational school located in Clinton, Louisiana. It was originally founded in 1852, and reopened in 1966 by parents who opposed government intervention in education, especially desegregation of Louisiana's segregated school system. Today, the majority of students are still racially white, but the student body is also made up of a minority of other ethnic backgrounds. The school enrolls students from throughout East and West Feliciana Parish, and surrounding areas.

History

Silliman Institute was originally founded in 1852 as Silliman Female Collegiate Institute. It operated as a women's college between the years of 1852 and 1866. In 1866 the campus was donated to the Louisiana Presbytery and was known as Silliman College until 1931 when the school was shut down due to economic conditions and declining enrollment. The campus was used by the Louisiana Presbytery between 1934 and 1960 as the site of their annual summer conferences.

A group of local parents who opposed racial integration in public schools bought the old campus in 1965 and began holding classes for grades 1 through 7 in 1966. This occurred prior to the public schools in East Feliciana Parish being ordered to integrate by the Federal courts, in 1969, but local parents were well aware that the order would be coming.^[1] Silliman was expanded to include high school in 1967.

In the late 1990s Silliman Institute was one of 23 private schools in Louisiana ruled ineligible for that state's tuition grant program because of its refusal to adopt racially non-discriminatory admissions policies.^[2] A majority of the board of directors at the time disapproved of making the changes necessary to become eligible for the grants. The minority of the board issued 1000 new shares of stock in the school's governing corporation and were sued by other directors in an attempt to prevent this attempted end-run around the majority position. The sale of the shares was approved by Judge Wilson Ramshur in November 1999.^[3] Changes to the school's admission's policies, as evidenced by the non-discrimination policy posted on the school's official website, were later instituted, allowing for its graduates to qualify for the TOPS scholarship. Approximately 71% of the school's 2013 graduating class received the state's TOPS scholarship.^[4]

The current racial make-up of the school's student body is 98.18% White, 1% Hispanic, 0.4% Black, and 0.4% Asian/Pacific Islander^[5]

Accreditation

The Silliman Institute is a member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.^[6] It is accredited by the Louisiana State Board of Education.

Athletics

While the school currently competes in athletics as a member of the MAIS, it previously, prior to 1991, competed as a member of the Louisiana Independent School Association. Silliman offers football, basketball, baseball, softball, golf, tennis, cross country, track, cheerleading, and dance.

Rivals include Centreville Academy (Centreville, Mississippi) and the Central Private School (Central, Louisiana).

Notable alumni

• Roy Corcoran, Former MLB player (Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners)
• Joshua Paul Jones, Attorney in Birmingham, Alabama
• Chip Kline, Track & Field athlete, appointed by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as head of Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
• Willie Young, Former Advanced Math teacher, NASA official.
• Micah Schilling, Baseball player, Cleveland Indians.

References

Coordinates: 30°51′33″N 91°01′13″W / 30.8592°N 91.0203°W / 30.8592; -91.0203

Further reading

• James Minton (January 21, 2005). "Clinton residents see need to smooth out differences". The Advocate.