Randolph College Information

Randolph College is a private liberal arts and sciences college in Lynchburg, Virginia. Founded in 1891 as Randolph-Macon Womans College, it was renamed on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational.

The college offers 32 majors; 42 minors; pre-professional programs in law, medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering physics, and teaching; and a dual degree program in engineering. Undergraduate degrees offered include the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Fine Arts. Randolph also offers two graduate degrees, the Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Randolph College is an NCAA Division III school competing in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). The college fields varsity teams in six mens and eight womens sports. The coed riding team competed in both the ODAC and the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. The recent decision to close the Riding Center currently leaves the fate of the team unclear, however.

Notable alumni include author Pearl S. Buck, who won the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize, former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, and CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.

Randolph is a member of The Annapolis Group of colleges in the United States, the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia, and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.

The college was founded by William Waugh Smith, then-president of Randolph-Macon College, under Randolph-Macons charter after he failed to convince R-MC to become co-educational. Randolph-Macon Womans College has historic ties to the United Methodist Church. After many attempts to find a location for Randolph-Macon Womans College, the city of Lynchburg donated 50 acres for the purpose of establishing a womens college. In 1916, it became the first womens college in the South to earn a Phi Beta Kappa charter. Beginning in 1953, the two colleges were governed by separate boards of trustees.

Main Hall, built in 1891, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

In August 2006, only a few weeks into the academic year, Randolph-Macon Womans College announced that it would adopt coeducation and change its name. Former Interim president Ginger H. Worden argued (in a September 17, 2006 editorial for The Washington Post) that,

The decision to go co-ed was not welcomed by everyone. Alumnae and students organized protests which were covered by local and national media. Many students accused the school of having recruited them under false pretenses, as the administration did not warn new or current students that they were considering admitting men. Lawsuits were filed against the school by both students and alumnae.

It was renamed Randolph College on July 1, 2007, when it became coeducational. The ensuing period of integration was, perhaps unsurprisingly, difficult. The first full-time male students (as male children of faculty members had historically been granted permission to attend classes at Randolph-Macon Womens College) saw their mailboxes and doors vandalized, and were quickly polarized. The last class to have the option to receive diplomas from Randolph-Macon Womans College graduated on May 16, 2010. Over ten years has greatly eased the tension, and the percentage of male students has increased. While there is virtually no animosity towards current male students from their female counterparts, some have noted a less-than-favorable treatment from recent alumnae.

Randolph College is named after John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia. Randolph (1773-1833) was an eccentric planter and politician who, in his will, released hundreds of slaves after his death and once fought a duel with Henry Clay.

Randolph Colleges Maier Museum of Art features works by outstanding American artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. The College has been collecting American art since 1920 and the Maier now houses a collection of several thousand paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs in the Colleges permanent collection.

The Maier hosts an active schedule of special exhibitions and education programs throughout the year. Through its programs, internships, museum studies practicums, and class visits, the Maier Museum of Art provides valuable learning opportunities for Randolph students and the community at large.

In 2007, Randolph College announced that it would sell four paintings from its collection. The announcement resulted in an injunction filed to stop the sales as well as protests from art associations, including the Virginia Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors and the College Art Association. The lawsuit was dropped.

In 2008, the college sold Rufino Tamayos Trovador for a record-breaking $7.2 million. In 2013, Randolph College entered into an agreement with the National Gallery, London for the purchase of George Wesley Bellows Men of the Docks, for $25.5 million and established an academic partnership between the two institutions. The other paintings sold at a later date are Edward Hicks Peaceable Kingdom, and Ernest Hennings Through the Arroyo (which remains on campus through a loan).

In the spring of 2011, Randolph College was censured by the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), of which Randolph College is not nor has ever been a member, for its proposed deaccessioning of four centerpieces within its collection. The college responded by asserting that its art collection is a college asset held for the purpose of enhancing student learning. In 2014, the AAMD issued sanctions forbidding its member institutions from loaning artwork to or otherwise collaborating with the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College. The censure has sparked discussion over the differences between standalone museums and collections held by private non-profit entities like colleges and universities.

The rivalry between odd and even graduating classes is the lynchpin of many traditions at Randolph College. The groups are distinguished based on whether their graduation year is an odd or even number, hence the names. As students spend four years earning their undergraduate degrees at Randolph, there are always two odd sister-classes and two even sister-classes. These groups participate in certain celebratory events together depending on the year.

Since 1968, the college has hosted a study abroad program at the University of Reading, England. Each year as many as 35 students are selected for the program. Commonly taken during the junior year, students may choose to enroll for the full academic year or for the fall or spring semester only. Students live in one of three Randolph-owned houses across the street from the University of Reading campus, and travel as a class to various cities and destinations in England.

In 2018, the Randolph College Board of Trustees made the decision to end The World in Britain program after the ensuing academic year. This decision is believed to relate to a recent uptick in tuition costs from the University of Reading, itself, making the program financially unviable. Many students and alums of the program were saddened by this news, as they considered it to be a critical component of their educational experience.

A minor in American Culture offers Randolph College students the opportunity to study American society and culture by drawing upon resources, techniques, and approaches from a variety of disciplines. The American Culture program also accepts visiting students from other American colleges and universities for a one-semester intensive study of a particular theme or region, including literature, art, history, and travel components.

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