Campus:
Campus landmarks include Bryant-Denny Stadium,
the President's Mansion, Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, and
Denny Chimes, the clock tower located on the Quad next to
University Boulevard. The school is also home to the Paul
W. Bryant Museum and the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
Organization:
The University is divided into 12 colleges and
schools. The eight divisions granting undergraduate degrees
are the College of Arts and Sciences, the Culverhouse College
of Commerce and Business Administration, the College of
Communication and Information Sciences, the College of Education,
the College of Engineering, the College of Human Environmental
Sciences, the Capstone College of Nursing, and the School
of Social Work. Graduate degrees in those eight divisions
at the master's, specialist, and doctoral level are awarded
through the Graduate School. The School of Law offers J.D.
and LL.M. programs. The College of Community Health Sciences
provides advanced studies in medicine and related disciplines
and operates a family-practice residency program. The College
of Continuing Studies provides correspondence courses and
other types of educational opportunities for non-traditional
students.
The University is Alabama's oldest institution of higher
learning; today, it is one of three major research universities
in the state (along with athletics rival Auburn University
and the much younger University of Alabama at Birmingham).
UA has Alabama's only publicly supported law school; the
Cumberland School of Law. At Samford University in Birmingham
is the state's only other ABA-accredited law school. Academic
programs unavailable elsewhere in the state include doctoral
programs in anthropology, library and information studies,
music, Romance languages, and social work.
History:
Foundation
In 1820, an "educational seminary" called
"The University of the State of Alabama" was created.
It set up in Tuscaloosa in 1827, and opened its doors to
students in 1831.
Racial segregation
The University of Alabama was racially segregated prior
to 1963.
On June 11, 1963, George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama,
stood in front of a schoolhouse door at the University of
Alabama in an attempt to stop integration by the enrollment
of two African-American students, Vivian Malone and James
Hood; when confronted by federal marshals, Wallace stepped
aside. Later in life Wallace apologized for his views on
integration.
Sports, Clubs, and Traditions
Athletics
The school's athletics teams are known as the Crimson
Tide. They compete at the NCAA's Division I level and are
members of the 12-member Southeastern Conference. The Tide's
football team has brought national attention to the state
in recent decades, winning 12 national championships and
21 SEC titles. The football team plays in 83,818-seat Bryant-Denny
Stadium, which is named after legendary football coach Paul
"Bear" Bryant and former UA President George Denny.
The gymnastics team, which, like the school's basketball
teams, competes in Coleman Coliseum, has also won four national
championships.
In recent years the athletics program has taken a hit, with
NCAA sanctions hindering the Crimson Tide's football program.
The Tide's football program was hit with a two year post-season
ban, which it will be off of in the fall of 2004. Since
the Tide's last national championship in 1992 against the
Miami Hurricanes, the Alabama football team has had five
different head coaches. Following Gene Stallings was defensive
coordinator Mike Dubose, who proved to be an excellent recruiter
of defensive linemen. He benefited tremendously from the
leadership of Shaun Alexander and Chris Samuels, winning
the SEC championship in 1999. Expectations quickly rose
for the Tide, which started the season as high as No. 3
in some polls. The Tide quickly lowered, ending up 3-8 in
a season exemplified by a last-second loss to Central Florida.
Dubose was quickly fired and replaced by an up-and-coming
coach from TCU, Dennis Franchione. The media-savvy Franchione
was quickly popular because of his coaching style and media-friendly
press conferences. He led Alabama to two winning seasons
from 2001-2002, going 7-6 and 10-3, respectively. After
NCAA sanctions hit in 2002, Coach Fran was rumored to be
interested in other jobs, including the University of Kansas
opening. One year later, under a pile of media scrutiny,
Franchione left for Texas A&M University. After the
well-documented Mike Price fiasco, in which the former Washington
State University coach was hired and subsequently fired
without coaching a game, Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach
Mike Shula received his first head coaching job. Shula went
through many first-year pains, ending up 4-9.
The University of Alabama's men's basketball team has also
achieved recent success, advancing to the Elite Eight of
the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history
in 2004, losing to eventual champion UConn in the Phoenix
Regional Final (formerly known as the West Regional). Alabama's
head coach is former Tide guard Mark Gottfried.
Student life:
Student life at the school is marked by a division
between students who are members of traditionally white
social fraternities and sororities and students who are
not. The university's white sorority system admitted its
first black member in fall 2003. A new Christian fraternity
admitted a black student in 2001, but the white Greek system
otherwise remained largely segregated. Several traditionally
black fraternities and sororities have accepted white members.
The divide among students often shows up during the school's
annual Student Government Association (SGA) elections, which
are usually dominated by white Greek candidates backed by
a secretive group called the Machine. SGA elections have
been marred by violent assaults and death threats in the
past, but turnout among so-called "independents"
remains low because of apathy.
The university in recent years has developed an image as
a "party school," thanks to rankings from The
Princeton Review and other publications that cited lots
of drinking and drug use on and near campus. University
officials responded by starting a series of late-night,
on-campus entertainment programs and successfully pushing
for a citywide limitation on bar hours.
Noted University of Alabama Alumni:
» |
Hugo Black (Law 1906), Supreme Court
justice 1937 - 1971 |
» |
Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize winner for To Kill a Mockingbird |
» |
Joe Namath, Super Bowl III champion quarterback for
the New York Jets |
» |
Bart Starr, Super Bowl champion quarterback for the
Green Bay Packers |
» |
George Wallace, governor of Alabama 1962, 1970, 1974,
1982 |
» |
E.O. Wilson, entomologist known for work on evolution
and sociobiology; Pulitzer Prize winner |
» |
Joe Scarborough, member of the United States House
of Representatives 1995 - 2001 and television talk show
host. |
External links:
The University of Alabama website (
http://www.ua.edu/)
Alabama Crimson Tide: UA athletics (
http://www.rolltide.com/)
The Crimson White: UA newspaper (
http://www.cw.ua.edu/)
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