Tag: Bethany College

2 Private W.Va. Schools Will Require Student Vaccination

At least a couple of private West Virginia schools are requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 this fall.

The University of Charleston and Bethany College both say vaccinations will be required for the upcoming school year.

University of Charleston President Marty Roth told news outlets that it is the school’s responsibility to provide a healthy environment for the 1,500 students expected at the Charleston campus and 200 at the Beckley campus. The way to do that is to require students to be vaccinated, he said.

Students at the university won’t have to wear masks, but 3 feet of social distancing will be required in classrooms and public spaces, Roth said.

Bethany College’s vaccination requirement was decided by the college’s Pandemic Response Team in accordance with Centers for Disease Control guidance, the school said.

“I applaud our community for its commitment to protecting one another, and I believe strongly that our decision to require the vaccine will maximize the Bethany experience even more,” Bethany President Tamara Nichols Rodenberg said in an email announcing the update.

Robert C. Byrd's Name Removed From College Health Center

A private college in West Virginia said Wednesday it is removing the name of the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd from its health center, saying his name had caused “divisiveness and pain”without explicitly noting his complicated past on racial matters. 

Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s but subsequently denounced the organization. He served in the Senate for 51 years and died in 2010 at age 92. 

 

Bethany College President Tamara Rodenberg said on the school’s website that Byrd’s name will be removed from the college’s Robert C. Byrd Health Center “to demonstrate Bethany College’s capacity to change, to listen, and to learn.” 

 
 

Bethany’s statement did not specifically mention Byrd’s past ties to the Klan. 

 

“Our lives are marked by decisions, by actions, and by grace, and today we embrace all three in a tangible, visible way at our beloved Bethany College,” Rodenberg wrote.

 

Bethany College’s statement said the college recognized in the past few weeks that Byrd’s name attached to the health center “created divisiveness and pain for members of Bethany community, both past and present.”

 

While the college said it respects the Byrd family name, “we can no longer let it represent how we lead in today’s world.” 

 

Protests have erupted around the world since the death last month of George Floyd in Minnesota, a black man who died after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for air. Much of the conversation has focused on systematic racism and police brutality against black people in the United States.

 

Byrd, a Democrat, brought billions of dollars to his home state as the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His name is attached to dozens of buildings, roads, schools, scholarships and other public works projects in West Virginia. 

 

In 2010, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton gave speeches at memorial service for Byrd at the state Capitol in Charleston.

 

His accomplishments followed a childhood of poverty in West Virginia, and his success on the national stage came despite a complicated past on racial issues. While supporting later civil rights bills, he opposed busing to integrate schools.

 
 

As a young man, he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan for a time, and he joined Southern Democrats in an unsuccessful filibuster against the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. He later apologized for both actions, saying intolerance has no place in America.

 

A private liberal arts college founded in 1840, Bethany is located about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Pittsburgh.

March 4, 1866: Disciples of Christ Founder Alexander Campbell Dies at 77

On March 4, 1866, Alexander Campbell died at age 77. A native of Ireland, he immigrated to America in 1809 and settled in present-day Bethany two years later. During his lifetime, he was variously a preacher, philosopher, author, scholar, publisher, orator, and sheep farmer. He’s best remembered, though, for two lasting contributions.

First, he helped found the Disciples of Christ. Today, the Christian Church—as it’s commonly known—is one of the largest Protestant denominations ever founded in America. Then, in 1840, he established Bethany College and served as its president until his death. Today, Bethany is the oldest degree-granting institution in West Virginia.

Campbell also played an important role in western Virginia politics. As a Brooke County delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1829, he argued for a public system of education and the end of slavery. His views on slavery, however, were rather complex. He pushed again for public education at a special convention held in Clarksburg in 1841.

Campbell’s mansion, which still stands in Bethany, is listed as a National Historic Landmark due to his roles in founding the Christian Church and Bethany College.

February 13, 1899: Wheeling Newspaperman Archibald Campbell Dies at 65

On February 13, 1899, newspaperman Archibald Campbell died at age 65. A graduate of Bethany College, he became editor of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer in 1856.

At the time, the Intelligencer was the only daily Republican newspaper in Virginia. During Campbell’s first years at the paper, the country was rapidly plunging toward civil war.

His editorials opposing slavery and secession often stood out as a lone pro-Union voice in the region’s press. And Campbell was also the only newspaper publisher in Virginia to endorse Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860.

After Virginia seceded from the Union at the start of the Civil War, Campbell denounced the action as “infamous.” He quickly emerged as one of the leading proponents of West Virginia statehood. And when Lincoln was undecided about admitting West Virginia to the Union, Campbell sent the president a moving telegram, urging him to sign the statehood bill. He wrote, “If the bill fails, God only knows the result. I fear a general demoralization. I am clear. The consequences are in your hands.” Days later, Lincoln signed the bill, making West Virginia the nation’s 35th state.

January 14, 1957: Cecil Underwood Inaugurated State's Youngest Governor

On January 14, 1957, Cecil Underwood became West Virginia’s youngest governor. The 34-year-old Tyler County native also became the state’s first Republican governor in 24 years.

Underwood pledged to hire qualified personnel, keep taxes low, reform state purchasing, improve roads and education, and attract new industry. A Democratic-controlled legislature blocked most of his agenda. Most notably, it slashed 90 percent from Underwood’s proposed $500 million road program. However, he was able to pass measures to provide emergency benefits to unemployed miners and to create a new economic development agency.

The state constitution barred Underwood from running for a second term. Instead, he ran for U.S. Senate in 1960 and lost to incumbent Jennings Randolph. He fell short in his attempts to regain the governorship in 1964, ’68, and ’76. During this time, he held executive positions with coal and chemical companies and served as Bethany College’s president. After years out of the political spotlight, he launched a comeback in 1996. He defeated Charlotte Pritt for governor and took office at age 75. This time, he became West Virginia’s oldest governor.

Cecil Underwood died in 2008 at age 86.

Tamara Rodenberg Named President of Bethany College

Bethany College’s board has chosen the Rev. Dr. Tamara Rodenberg to serve as the school’s 20th president.

Bethany said on Tuesday that Rodenberg’s appointment is effective Jan. 1. 2016. She will replace Scott Miller, who left the private college in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle earlier this year to become president of Virginia Wesleyan College.

Rodenberg has served as vice president of advancement at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University since 2011.

Bethany Board of Trustees chair Greg Jordan says in a news release that Rodenberg both understands Bethany’s traditions and has a vision for its future.

Bethany was founded in 1840 and is West Virginia’s oldest private college.

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