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Olivet Nazarene University

Coordinates: 41°09′13″N 87°52′34″W / 41.153620°N 87.876140°W / 41.153620; -87.876140
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This article is about the college in Illinois. For the college in Michigan, see Olivet College.

41°09′13″N 87°52′34″W / 41.153620°N 87.876140°W / 41.153620; -87.876140

Olivet Nazarene University
File:ONULogo.jpg
TypePrivate
Established1907
PresidentJohn C. Bowling
Undergraduates2,400
Postgraduates2,000
Location
Bourbonnais
,
IL
,
USA
CampusSuburban
ColorsPurple & Gold
MascotTigers
Websitewww.olivet.edu

Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) is a private liberal arts college located in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The school is one of eight liberal arts colleges affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene in the United States. It is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

Affiliation

As one of eight U.S. liberal arts colleges[1] and universities affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene,[2] ONU is the college for the "Central USA Region"[3] of the United States. Although its name might suggest that it is the college for the "Olivet" region, no such region currently exists.[4] In terms of the Church of the Nazarene, the "Central Region" is comprised of the Wisconsin, Northwestern Illinois, Illinois, Chicago Central, Northern Michigan, Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northwest Indiana, Northeastern Indiana, Indianaopolis, and Southwest Indiana districts, which include Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. 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."[5]

History

A product of lay initiative,[6] Olivet traces its roots to when a group of families in East-Central Illinois started a school to provide a Christian education for their children. Classes at Miss Mary Nesbitt's grammar school were first held in a house in Georgetown, Illinois. In 1908, the school's founders acquired several acres in the village of Olivet, Illinois and built on this land, moving the grammar school to the proposed campus. A Wesleyan–holiness community sprang up around the school.[7] In 1909, the liberal arts college was started and the school was given the name Illinois Holiness University.

The school was given to the Church of the Nazarene in 1912. It was renamed Olivet College in 1915.[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, Dr. T. W. Willingham, purchased the school back at an auction and was elected president.

In 1938, the main building on campus was destroyed by fire. This prompted the school to look for a new location. The current campus was purchased in 1939, and the school moved in the summer of 1940. The campus was previously the location of St. Viator's College from 1868 until its close 1938. With the move, the school's name was changed to Olivet Nazarene College. The school's name was changed again in 1986 to Olivet Nazarene University.

Academics

ONU offers roughly 100 areas of study, including a single purported doctoral degree, in ethical leadership, making ONU and Trevecca Nazarene University the only Nazarene colleges with doctoral programs.[9]

Athletics

File:ONU tigers logo.jpg
ONU Tigers logo

The Olivet Tigers compete in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) and in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Men's varsity teams include Baseball, Basketball, Cross-country running, Football, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, Track and field. Women's varsity sports include Basketball, Cross country running, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and field, Volleyball

Since 2003, the Chicago Bears have held their summer training camp at the campus. Though this likely has little effect on the athletic programs at ONU, the Bears do pay to use the college's facilities, and their use itself speaks to the relative quality of those facilities.

Debate over Evolution at Olivet

In 2004, Olivet biology professor Richard G. Colling wrote Random Designer,[10] a book attempting to reconcile the foundations of modern biology with the principles of modern Christian faith. Following the publication of the book, but especially since its use in biology courses, controversy grew among Nazarene Church officials. Due to pressure from donors and board members, in September 2007 Olivet President Dr. John Bowling prohibited Colling from teaching the general biology class he had taught since 1991 and banned professors from assigning his book. Opposition to the book was initially led by Stephen Anthony, the Eastern Michigan District Superintendent, and Ted Lee, chairman of the Board of Trustees. Neither Anthony nor Lee have a biology or science degree, but hold honorary doctorates. The stance that science and religion are diametrically opposite is not standard for all Nazarene colleges and universities: Darrel R. Falk of Point Loma Nazarene wrore a book[11] similar in intent to that of Colling, while Karl Giberson of Eastern Nazarene, the first Nazarene scholar to publish with Oxford University Press, has written three books on the tensions between science and religion,[12] and is under contract for a fourth book titled Saving Darwin.[13]

Notes and references

  1. ^ Eastern Nazarene College is the only Nazarene institution to retain the "college" moniker. Different states hold different standards, but none of the Nazarene liberal arts colleges fit the standard national definition of a research university.
  2. ^ LIBERAL ARTS AND THE PRIORITIES OF NAZARENE HIGHER EDUCATION by J. Matthew Price, Ph.D.
  3. ^ Central USA Region
  4. ^ Eastern and Northwest are the only Nazarene schools to use their regional names. Olivet is named for a former location in the village of Olivet, Illinois (see History). There was, interestingly, a Nazarene institution once called Central Nazarene University in Texas.
  5. ^ Nazarene Educational Regions
  6. ^ In fact, its first board of trustees included only one minister.
  7. ^ "Why These Schools? Historical Perspectives on Nazarene Higher Education," by Stan Ingersol
  8. ^ The History of ENC, written by James Cameron, references J.E.L. Moore leaving Eastern Nazarene College in 1919 to become "president of the Pentecostal Nazarene University at Olivet, Illinois." on p.142
  9. ^ Fast Facts page
  10. ^ Random Designer: Created from Chaos to Connect with Creator, Browning Press, 2004, ISBN 0975390406
  11. ^ Coming to Peace with Science: Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology, InterVarsity Press, 2004, ISBN 0830827420
  12. ^ Worlds Apart: The Unholy War between Religion and Science, Beacon Hill Press, 1993 ISBN 0834115042
    With Donald Yerxa, Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002 ISBN 0742507645
    With Mariano Artigas, The Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientist Versus God and Religion, Oxford University Press, 2006 ISBN 0195310721
  13. ^ "Can God Love Darwin, Too?" by Sharon Begley, Newsweek, Sept. 17, 2007 issue



See also



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