At Sewanee:
"For many Episcopalians, it has become a place of pilgrimage- a modern Canterbury." -Arthur Ben Chitty, "Sewanee: Then and Now," Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 4, Winter, 1979
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"It
is gratifying to observe, as the University grows older, that its alumni
are bringing to the institution for matriculation their own sons and
relatives... If it is intended that these students shall resided in
the South it is a great mistake to educate them elsewhere... ...as the
number of our alumni increase through the South, their attachment to
Sewanee will be a potent influence to build it up." -Fairbanks,
HISTORY, 1905
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“Long
will the names of Polk and Otey and Elliott and Cobb and Rutledge be honored
and remembered; and when they shall cease to be watch-words within our
halls, then may it be feared that all reverence for what is good or great
will, in like manner, have departed from the earth,” -Chancellor
Bishop William Mercer Green, Chancellor’s Address to the Board of
Trustees at University Place, August, 1869, PROCEEDINGS, Archives,
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH
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"Well, there is East, Middle,
and West Tennessee, and there is also, say I, the Domain of [T]he University
of the South... And among these the bravest are the Domainians.
This is so, in my opinion, because Sewanee has had the courage, certainly
more than the other divisions of the state and more that any other college
I know of, to insist on retaining its own traditions, its own individuality,
its own particularities.
It has tried, as any institution which is to endure must, to make the
world relevant to its own principles and ideals rather than to accept
the values of the world." -Peter Taylor, Founders' Day
Speech 1972, in SEWANEE
The University of the South, photography by William Strode, 1984
 |
|
"The
Episcopal University"
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| Order of Gownsmen March 2, 2004 Minutes (excerpts) The meeting was brought to order at 8:30 PM. Jonathan Duncan presented a resolution concerning the restoration of the state flags to All Saints' Chapel (see below). Betsy Snowden pointed out that the dioceses themselves, whose banners currently hang in All Saints' Chapel, own the University, not the states themselves. Jerry Monds inquired why the flags were removed in the first place. Mr. Duncan explained that the flags were originally removed for cleaning, and were never replaced for acoustical reasons, and because the Confederate battle flag appearing in certain state flags might have made certain students uncomfortable. Erin Stocco voiced her opinion that flying only Southern state flags would foster division between regions of the country represented at Sewanee. Jimmy Salter replied that the University is not owned by the diocese of the Northern states, but the Southern. Therefore, the exclusivity of flying the Southern state flags is appropriate. Scott Knittle emphasized the name of the University as The University of the South, voicing his support for flying the Southern state flags in the University chapel. Jonathan Duncan elaborated on his resolution by adding that flying the state flags honors the tradition of non-Episcopalian Southerners attending The University of the South, and recognizes their contributions above and beyond those of the dioceses alone. Travis Johnson requested a clarification of discussion rules. Tyler Wheeler moved to adopt the resolution, seconded by Samuel Moore. After division, the motion carried 26 yea to 21 nay. Andrew Gregg moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Duncan. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM. A Resolution Concerning State Flags in All
Saints' Chapel
Respectfully submitted, ___________________________
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"The University of the South, an Episcopal institution, was a great center for the cult of the Lost Cause." -John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed, 1001 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE SOUTH, 1996
"Because of the circumstances in which it was established, the University and its surrounding community of Sewanee embodied many of the aspect that distinguished the Lost Cause from other eras and social movements." -Charlotte Hutton, "The Lost Cause and Sewanee," January 13, 2002
| The Lost Cause: "Like Davis, the Confederacy, too, survived 1865. It survived as the Lost Cause- a response of Southern people to themselves and their failure. The Lost Cause was an attempt to preserve the culture and identity of a distinctly Southern people. War had determined that there would be no Southern nation; but defeat and the memory of war only strengthened the bonds which united a Southern people." -VICTORY AND DEFEAT, Jefferson Davis and the Lost Cause, Thematic Introduction by Emory M. Thomas of the University of Georgia, The Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia |
"[David] Schenck thought that he was being true to his race as well, to the Southern people. Southerners, he believed, were a people apart before the war, they were independant during the war, and they would be different after it." -Anne Sarah Rubin, A SHATTERED NATION: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1865, 2005
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"... this whole plateau... will teem with the most refined society of the Southand West. This will be the place of meeting ...and cement the strong bond of mutual interest with the yet stronger ones of friendship and love." -Excerpts from Address of the Board of Trustees of The University of the South, to the Southern Dioceses, in reference to its choice of the site for the University, Leonidas Polk, D.D., Bishop of Louisiana, Chairman of the Locating Committee, et al, presumedly penned by Bishop Stephen Elliott of Georgia, REPRINTS, Hodgson; see SEWANEE, 1932, or PURPLE SEWANEE, 1961 |
"They talked
a lot about the Civil War, even so long after. Sewanee was full
of Southerners who had experienced the war, like Grandma Fairbanks and
Grandma Glass, or grown up with tales of it, like Mother and her friends.
So many war widows and war wives had come to Sewanee, genteel ladies with
nothing left of their own except memories. So while Grandpa was
writing his books on the history of Florida and the history of the university,
history was being kept alive orally by the visiting ladies."
-Mrs. Rainsford (Rene) Fairbanks Glass Dudney, granddaughter of Major
George Rainsford Fairbanks, C.S.A., REBEL'S REST REMEMBERS, Rene
Fairbanks Dudney Lynch, 1998
"I admire the Sewanee style... quite able on proper occasion to rise into elegance... Another account of it is that Sewanee draws its patronage from the social class of old-time gentleman, rather more than most schools... it was omething more and better than mere politeness; it was good-breeding and courtesy... Whatever else Sewanee does, they said, it certainly does make gentlemen... We need to remind ourselves of it... Sewanee then I say, in its history, in its aim, and I hope somewhat in its attainment, stands for these five things- appearance, manners, manhood, culture, and reverence." -"Traditional Ideals of Sewanee," 1907 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CAP AND GOWN
"The South: A Region Worth Exploring- Sewanee... offers students from the region and from other parts of the country an opportunity to experience the complexity and charm of the South. The area is steeped in history... Sewanee provides a great venue for exploring the region." -Maguire and Associates, Inc., Sewanee Report, March 2003
"The statutes of the University of the South were more forthright; the senior bishop of the denomination was always to be its chancellor; it had a chaplain and required professors and students to attend morning prayers; it had a school dedicated to Theology, and another to Moral Science and Evidences of Christianity, and specified that all students had to study the latter for graduation." -Michael O'Brian, CONJECTURES OF ORDER, Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810-1860, Volume II, 2004 (Correction: Should read "...the senior bishop of the domination's owning dioceses in the Southern states was always to be its chancellor...")
"In 1857, the southern Episcopal dioceses agreed to found a denominational college for the region, and the cornerstone was laid in 1860. Several figures later prominent in the Confederacy, notably Bishop Leonidas Polk, were involved in the founding. Due to the damage and disruptions of the Civil War, however, progress came to a halt. In 1866 the process was resumed, and this date is usually given as the re-founding of the University and the point from which it has maintained continuous operations... Recently the institution has begun combining its two names and bills itself as 'Sewanee: The University of the South.' Whether this signals a trend toward the diminution of its traditional Southern heritage has been a matter of debate." (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewanee%2C_The_University_of_the_South, viewed 12/27/04.)"[The South] offers the possibility of an integrated life, American in the older rather than the newer sense. Its population is homogeneus. Its people share a common past, which they are not likely to forget; for aside from having Civil War battlefields at their doorsteps, the Southern people have long cultivated a historical consciousness that permeates manners, localities, institutions, the very words and cadence of social intercourse. This consciousness, too oftern misdescribed as merely romantic and gallant, really siginifies a close connection with the eighteenth-century European America that is elsewhere forgotten. In the South the eighteenth-century inheritance flowered into a gracious civilization that, despite its defects, was actually a civilization, true and indigenous, well diffused, well established. Its culture was sound and realistic in that it was not at war with its own economic foundations. ...Whether it still retains its native, inborn ways is a question open to arguement in the minds of those who know the South mainly from hearsay." -Donald Davidson, "A Mirror for Artists," I'LL TAKE MY STAND: The South and the Agrarian Tradition, 1930, 1962, 1977
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"No lie, the average Yankee knows about as much about the South as a hog knows about the Lord's plan for salvation." -William Price Fox, in 1001 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE SOUTH, Reed and Reed, 1996
"The time will come when they realize that whistling ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ didn’t do them any good at all." -resident Domainian |
"The South has seen such men before. Prevented by
birth or heritage from sharing the South's tradition, they rail and carp
against the ever-evil whites, gentleman and even the word 'South.' Mr.
Morris [Rev.], after settling himself behind the comfortable front of
'the Church,' goes so far as to say that the very name University of the
South (particularly, of course, of the South) is a name in which there
is resident such embarrassment for the Episcopal Church. (Episcopal Society
for Cultural and Racial Unity Newsletter, January 6, 1962). Morris is
further quoted from the ESCRU newsletter, 'A look back will show that
Sewanee's official name, The University of the South, is its millstone.
It should be self-evident why the University of the South's very name
is its millstone. Because of its history, perhaps genuine change in heart
would be accompanined by the catharsis of throwing off a name which there
is resident such embarrassment for the Episcopal Church. Conceived in
racial prejudice and sectional bitterness, Sewanee still wrestles with
the spectre of Bishop Polk, whose spirit looms as large as the new tower
with bells dedicated to him.' " -Editorial, the Sewanee Purple,
April 18, 1962, regarding the ESCRU protesters at Clara's Restaurant at
the Sewanee Inn. (See the Polk Memorial Carillon bells at http://www.sewanee.edu/All_Saints/virtual_tour/warmem.html,
viewed 12/27/04.)
"After the South had been conquered by war and humiliated and impoverished
by peace, there appeared still something which made the South different-
something intangible, incomprehensible, in the realm of the spirit. That
too must be invaded and destroyed; so there commenced a second war of
conquest, the conquest of the Southern mind, calculated to remake every
Southern opinioin, to impose the Northern way of life and thought upon
the South, write 'error' across the pages of Southern history which were
out of keeping with the Northern legend, and set the rising and unborn
generatios upon stools of everlasting repentance. . . . The older generations,
the hardened campaigners under Lee and Jackson were too tough-minded to
reeducate. They must be ignored. The North must 'treat them as Western
farmers do the stumps in their clearings, work around them and let them
rot out,' but the rising and future generations were to receive the proper
education in the Norhter tradtion." -Frank
Lawrence Owsley, "The Irrepressible Conflict," I'LL TAKE
MY STAND: The South and the Agrian Tradition; Twelve Southerners,
including Andrew Lytle, 1930, 1962, 1977
"They [outsiders] really didn't understand the nature of the place.
Back when Sewanee was small and close-knit, everybody took care of everybody
else. It was much like Charleston in that way, and the descendants still
feel the same way about Sewanee." -Grand Domanian lady of a fine
Sewanee family, Christmas break, 2004
"...there's no telling how much local drinkers put away. Charleston,
especially, is a city where booze always has flowed morning, noon and
night. The expression drunk as a lord has a direct correlation to Charleston
aristocrats, lifelong residents of the Holy City whose family ties go
back to the founders in 1670." -John M. Burbage, Charleston Mercury,
August 18, 2005
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"I think I know how Rhett Butler felt at the end of Gone With the Wind... because anyone who has ever lived in Charleston for any period of time must dream occasionally of returning. ...Charleston is home to an important political tradition of aristocratic republicanism- from John Rutledge and Henry Laurens during the Revolution to John C. Calhoun- that has inspired all lovers of true liberty. ...Even now, [South Carolina] is, perhaps, the most conservative state in the union it was forced to rejoin. ...As he New World Order stretches out its tentacles, normal people are looking for ways to protect their families and their interest in small-scale private communities." -Thomas Fleming, The Rockford Institute, 9 September 2005 "And Charleston is the South, only intensified." -Rhett
Butler to Scarlett O'Hara, GONE WITH THE WIND, Margaret
Mitchell, 1936
"For the social customs, women's costumes, general behavior, there is a very intelligent friend of Miss Mitchell's who is very well born - Miss Myrick - who has lived both in Atlanta and in the country outside Atlanta who would be ideal." -Mr. George Cukor, in Atlanta, to Mr. David O. Selznick, March 29, 1937 (Source: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/online/gwtw/scarlett/2ndTS.html)
"Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta on November 8, 1900 to May Belle and Eugene Muse Mitchell, members of the 'old guard' of the city." -"Early Childhood" display, the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum, Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia, as of January 2005) Georgia Historical Commission marker 60-191 (1961), Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia-
|
 The ladies at the Ball in Sewanee, Tennessee, 1949. |
"...I was there back when we knew the gentlemanly response to being
defeated Rebels. Sewanee isn't the same now as it was back then."
-Former University Trustee from New Orleans, January, 2005
"Somehow, there is just a sense of grandeur when someone enters or departs this world from below the Mason-Dixon line." -Annabelle Rutledge, "View from the Piazza," Charleston Mercury, March 31, 2005
"One of your respondents raised the point about 'snob schools' giving 'patents of nobility' rather than proper degrees. Oddly enough, the University of the South (my alma mater), is an exceedinly preppy institution. Noblesse Oblige still has meaning there, or at least did back in the 1980s, in a way that would not be so elsewhere Meritocrats would squeal at the whole culture, as would the politically correct. So would people attuned to the likes of Bob Jones or Patrick Henry Colleges. In many very positive ways, Sewanee is a throwback to an earlier age that gives an outstanding education with lots of faculty contact and opportunity for engagement in extracurricular activities. I'm not at all surprised that Tom Fleming's daughter went there, though I hadn't known that before. Sewanee as it is known, fits with Swarthmore, Williams, Amhearts and the equivalent elite liberal arts colleges. It also remains very Southern and a place where one could get by quite well as a white male. The University of the South was founded by the Southern diosces of the Episcopal Chruch before the Civil War as a alternative to Princeton and Yale. One of its leading lights was Bishop (and later General) Leonidas Polk who was killed by a cannonshot outside Atlanta. After the late unpleasantness, it was revived by a number of Confederate Generals and clergymen with aid from Oxford and Cambridge. Despite an heir of threadbare gentility up into the 20th century, Sewanee provided a classical education to Southern elites while drawing from the Midwest and New England through the Episcopal Church. There's a strong Oxbridge influence, especially in tutorials and the emphasis on English and Literature. William Alexander Percy discusses it in 'Lanterns on the Levee.' Sewanee is not immune from broader trends in academe, but it's largely avoided the craziness that's spolied similar colleges." -Steve Sailer, March 2004 posting, http://www.isteve.com/Web_Exclusives_Archive-Mar2004.htm
"I have recently reviewed for the TN Historical Review
'A Plantation Mistress on the Eve of the Civil War: The Diary of Keziah...Brevard,
1860-186' by John H. Moore, Ed, (U of South Carolina Press). This slim
volume throws a good deal of light on what a plantation mistress actually
did each day and offers some provocative ideas about what she thought
during those months of political crisis. It should help! -From Anita S.
Goodstein, mgoodste@seraph1.sewanee.edu, 15 August 1996, http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~women/threads/drew.html,
viewed April 17, 2005
"Every year those seniors who have chosen to pursue a Woman's Studies
concentration must collectively dream up and put into action an activism
project. . . . This year six strong women have designed the first 'Feminist
Pledge for the Class of 2005 with the goal of starting a 'tradition of
carrying feminist ideals into the world. . . . 'I pledge to use the power
of my education to actualize my feminist ideals. . . . I will recognize
that oppressions intersect and that the interplay of race, class, gender,
sexual orientation, and nationality create vulnerabilities for women.'
"-Cameron Land, "The Feminist Pledge," The Sewanee
Purple, Vol. CLXXIV, Issue 4, April 29, 2005
 |
"[Edgar Gardner] Murphy graduated from the University
of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1889. At the University he
was influenced by William Porcher DuBose, who embodied the university's
lingering commitment to the values of the Old South." -Conservative
Social Gospel in Montgomery: Edgar Gardner Murphy, http://www.vernonjohns.org/tcal001/vjwscgsp.html,
viewed April 17, 2005 |
"David, as a graduate of both the University of the South (BA 65)
and Washington and Lee (LLB 68) I think I can testify to Mr. Staniland
that both institutions are subject to the same forces of leftist takeover
as Eastern prestige schools. W&L is the most advanced with the law
school faculty dominated by leftists. The undergraduate college has all
the earmarkings of PC gone wild and has had struggles with independant
conservative student newspapers. Sewanee (University of the South) is
less infected, however, a recent President coupled his retirement with
the announcement that majors in women's studies and the environment had
been extablished. The Confederate battle flag was removed from its prominent
display in the chapel. (Sewanee was founded by an Episcopal priest who
later became a Confederate general) There was also the mysterious removal
of all state flags from the same chapel that some say was for the purpose
of getting at those flags that display Confederate symbols."- Are
There Conservative Universities? (http://www.frontpagemag.com/blog/BlogList.asp?D=&ID=&CP=68)
Missing academic conservatives (cont.) - Thursday, September 12, 2002
6:32 PM, post from Paul M. Neville
|
From www.princetonreview.com; viewed 8/24/05-
|
"...We arrived in Sewanee just in time to not see anything. The entire mountain, which we were driving on, was engulfed in a thick layer of fog. We could see about ten feet in front of our car and that was it. During our stay the fog would rise and fall - rising enough to give a glimpse of the community hiding beneath, and then fall once more veiling the splendor of Sewanee. Splendor indeed - the town is dripping with money. The college, which is the central focus of the little community, is a magnificent stone castle, the surrounding buildings (those that I could see) are such as brilliant stone cathedrals, beautiful brick dormitories, and sleepy little neighborhoods of student housing nestled into the forest on the mountainside. ...I was floored by the stunning outfits that all of the ladies were parading around in, suits and ties on all the men and babies dressed as if they were to be christened on the spot. I thought we died and gone to fashion magazine heaven, or hell. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It turned out that everyone pretty much just wears their best everyday. For an isolated little town without a mall within hours of the place one would think that the residents would indulge in casual attire - not at all." -Sweet Tea, blogger, http://www.bmf-st.blogspot.com/; viewed 10/19/05
"There are still a couple of old professors here at Vanderbilt who
were educated in the South and they speak with that Old Southern Accent
that gets instilled in places like Sewanee. There is no sing-song to this
accent, it's as if every word is formed while your mouth is shaped like
you're going to say the letter "a"--"Ah laik mah chances."
When you hear it, you know that's someone who's over 65 and got a PhD."
-http://tinycatpants.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_
tinycatpants_archive.html; viewed 10/18/05
"University of the South (Sewanee)- Small, but Not a Melting
Pot: 'Students say the school is made up mostly of Southern rich
people.' " -THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO THE COLLEGES,
2006: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know
"At the University of the South at Sewanee, crimes dropped 12 percent
from 158 to 139, the report showed. The top offenses at the rural school's
campus included liquor law and drug violations and burglary. No violent
crimes were reported." -Black Issues, "Crime Jumps
on Tennessee College Campuses," Asssociated Press, August 12, 2004
(Source: http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_3906.shtml;
viewed 12/19/05)
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