What students didn’t know when they entered Allen Arena for the normal Tuesday morning chapel is that they would take giant steps back in time to 1891 — the year David Lipscomb and James A. Harding founded the educational institution that has flourished and become Lipscomb University.
David Lipscomb, portrayed by Henry “Chip” Arnold — son of the late, legendary Lipscomb professor of music and theater, Henry O. “Buddy” Arnold — was welcomed on stage by Lipscomb President Randy Lowry on Tuesday, Oct. 6 for Founders Day.
“I’m assuming the tuition office is still accepting live chickens for payment,” Arnold’s Lipscomb character said.
The school was founded in 1891, when tuition was only $3 a month and women never were to be seen wearing anything except dresses. While things have changed since that October day in 1891, Lipscomb University remains grounded in its spiritual and academic growth.
“Here we are 124 years later, and we still engage with the Word in academic classes and still have students that go all over the world sharing the message and serving people,” Lowry told his special visitor from the past. “That’s one aspect of Lipscomb you would be proud of.”
Today over 4,500 students are enrolled at Lipscomb University, but when the school first opened only 32 students were enrolled, including just two women.
“I believed at that time that young women play a vital role in our society, and that they should be educated and have the opportunity to be educated just as much as young men,” Arnold’s Lipscomb character said.
It was not common for women to get an education then, but now women dominate campus, as 61 percent of students are females.
“I noticed that some of the ladies were wearing men’s trousers or less,” the special guest said to his audience, after reading the dress code standard from the 1896 handbook.
While cultural changes have spread throughout campus over the years, the one thing that hasn’t changed is Lipscomb’s spiritual foundation.
“It was never our intention to make professional preachers,” “Lipscomb” said. “It was our intention to equip and prepare men and women to understand their gifts and go out into the world and use it for the glory of God.”
Lowry agreed and said that students’ vocational and spiritual lives should carry that same purpose. Students exhibit that through working with over 200 non-profits and going on mission trips to around 25 different countries each year.
“They take their love for people and their spirit of service with them,” Lowry said.
The special visitor from 1891 said he was very pleased with what the faculty, staff and students have done.
“I never could have fathomed the great, wonderful legacy that you have created from my mustard-seed vision,” he said.
Photos by author