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Southern Nazarene University
Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a private Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma, United States.
The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions. While SNU claims its founding date as 1899, that founding date refers to an institution that merged with what is now SNU: Texas Holiness University. As an Oklahoman institution, SNU dates back to 1906, with the founding of the Beulah Heights Academy and Bible School.
The roots of the original Southern Nazarene University are primarily in an orphanage of downtown Oklahoma City, founded by Miss Mattie Mallory. Mallory used her inheritance to buy property north of the city, which she named Beulah Heights, and relocated the orphanage there. Then, in 1906, the "Beulah Heights Academy and Bible School" opened. In 1909, the school was renamed "Oklahoma Holiness College" and new property was purchased to the west of Oklahoma City in Bethany. That same year the surrounding holiness community became Nazarene and, as its church base swelled, the school's financial problems "proved less threatening than those at other institutions". The school eventually changed its name in 1918 to "Oklahoma Nazarene College", when the first Nazarene Educational Regions were established.
When Peniel College merged with Oklahoma Nazarene College in 1920, the name changed to "Bethany-Peniel College". Peniel was the first of four fellow Nazarene institutions that would be absorbed by the Oklahoma school. The second institution was Central Nazarene College, another Nazarene school in Texas, in 1929. Two years later, Arkansas Holiness College was absorbed by Bethany-Peniel. The last merger was with Bresee Theological College, in 1940. As historian Timothy L. Smith wrote, "It eventually outdistanced and absorbed the schools at Hutchinson, Kansas, Peniel and Hamlin, Texas, Vilonia, Arkansas, and Des Arc, Missouri. Bethany became the Nazarene center for the whole Southwest."
In 1955, the name changed again from Bethany-Peniel College to "Bethany Nazarene College" (BNC) to avoid confusion with the term "penal" or "penal colony", and again in 1986, from Bethany Nazarene College to "Southern Nazarene University" (SNU).
SNU was placed on the American Association of University Professors's list of censured institutions in 1987 after eight faculty members were irregularly terminated in 1986. Discrepancies in the reasons for their termination led the AAUP to investigate: the initial reason given was that of financial difficulty on the part of the institution, due to a decline in student retention and the resulting drop in enrollment, while the reason given later was one of unspecified performance deficiencies in the terminated faculty members. SNU eventually offered some of the terminated faculty members monetary compensation but remained on the list for 18 years, until its administration had drafted academic tenure procedures that met AAUP standards. In 2005, the American Association of University Professors took SNU off its censure list.
Southern Nazarene University was granted an exception to Title IX in 2016 which allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons.
The main campus is located in Bethany, Oklahoma. Since 1990, SNU has also maintained a presence in Tulsa, providing adult and professional programs. Buildings with excavated basements on the Bethany campus have a history of being opened up to shelter area locals during tornado warnings.
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Southern Nazarene University
Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a private Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma, United States.
The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions. While SNU claims its founding date as 1899, that founding date refers to an institution that merged with what is now SNU: Texas Holiness University. As an Oklahoman institution, SNU dates back to 1906, with the founding of the Beulah Heights Academy and Bible School.
The roots of the original Southern Nazarene University are primarily in an orphanage of downtown Oklahoma City, founded by Miss Mattie Mallory. Mallory used her inheritance to buy property north of the city, which she named Beulah Heights, and relocated the orphanage there. Then, in 1906, the "Beulah Heights Academy and Bible School" opened. In 1909, the school was renamed "Oklahoma Holiness College" and new property was purchased to the west of Oklahoma City in Bethany. That same year the surrounding holiness community became Nazarene and, as its church base swelled, the school's financial problems "proved less threatening than those at other institutions". The school eventually changed its name in 1918 to "Oklahoma Nazarene College", when the first Nazarene Educational Regions were established.
When Peniel College merged with Oklahoma Nazarene College in 1920, the name changed to "Bethany-Peniel College". Peniel was the first of four fellow Nazarene institutions that would be absorbed by the Oklahoma school. The second institution was Central Nazarene College, another Nazarene school in Texas, in 1929. Two years later, Arkansas Holiness College was absorbed by Bethany-Peniel. The last merger was with Bresee Theological College, in 1940. As historian Timothy L. Smith wrote, "It eventually outdistanced and absorbed the schools at Hutchinson, Kansas, Peniel and Hamlin, Texas, Vilonia, Arkansas, and Des Arc, Missouri. Bethany became the Nazarene center for the whole Southwest."
In 1955, the name changed again from Bethany-Peniel College to "Bethany Nazarene College" (BNC) to avoid confusion with the term "penal" or "penal colony", and again in 1986, from Bethany Nazarene College to "Southern Nazarene University" (SNU).
SNU was placed on the American Association of University Professors's list of censured institutions in 1987 after eight faculty members were irregularly terminated in 1986. Discrepancies in the reasons for their termination led the AAUP to investigate: the initial reason given was that of financial difficulty on the part of the institution, due to a decline in student retention and the resulting drop in enrollment, while the reason given later was one of unspecified performance deficiencies in the terminated faculty members. SNU eventually offered some of the terminated faculty members monetary compensation but remained on the list for 18 years, until its administration had drafted academic tenure procedures that met AAUP standards. In 2005, the American Association of University Professors took SNU off its censure list.
Southern Nazarene University was granted an exception to Title IX in 2016 which allows it to legally discriminate against LGBT students for religious reasons.
The main campus is located in Bethany, Oklahoma. Since 1990, SNU has also maintained a presence in Tulsa, providing adult and professional programs. Buildings with excavated basements on the Bethany campus have a history of being opened up to shelter area locals during tornado warnings.