NB Hardeman accused of abusing male students at Freed Hardeman?

[longdistancerunner]

This is an interesting issue I saw on Wikipedia, the references to it are in The Tennessean but are not available online (at least not in the link). I wonder if anyone else knows anything about this?

In 1950, Hardeman was accused of "abusing" two male students, and firing a female employee who supported the students story. Two thirds of the student body quit school in February, demanding refunds. In addition, 9 of 14 teachers quit in support of the students. With the school facing insolvency, Hardeman resigned.[2][3][4] He was succeeded by Hubert A. Dixon.

[B.H.]

I wouldn't be surprised. I've heard of him having some shall we say faults.

[longdistancerunner]

Some additional. info I found, I think it was from Greg Massey's book on FH history. "What began as a seemingly small matter soon mushroomed into a full-blown crisis. President Hardeman had always been a strict disciplinarian, and he sometimes addressed disciplinary matters during chapel.
The times and the make-up of the student body had changed. Male students tended to be older, some of them veterans of World War II. Students were outraged by the president’s handling of student discipline, and eventually, the conflict reached a boiling point.
Students organized and chose leaders to represent them. They wrote letters to members of the Board of Trustees urging them to come to campus. And, they skipped classes. On one Tuesday, more than 250 students, out of an enrollment of approximately 385, refused to go to class. The “strikers” intended to stay out of class until the board came to campus and addressed the matter. A majority of the students now wanted a change in the college’s leadership.
The board came to campus. As their meeting continued into the night, a student rang the bell atop the building (now known as Old Main), calling students to assemble. Approximately 300 students answered the call by coming to Chapel Hall where they “staged an all-night ‘sit-it-out.’” The board ended their meeting at 5 a.m., went to Chapel Hall and spoke to the students who then left at 7 a.m.
Conflict continued to simmer beneath the surface and boiled over again in April. Ultimately, President Hardeman decided to leave at the end of the school year. He taught his classes for the remainder of the term, spoke briefly at graduation in Chapel Hall and left the building. The Hardeman era at FHC was over, but his legacy lives on in the school he built."

[faithandmore]

This book is still available on amazon.
I read it years ago. It was written by someone who worked at Freed Hardeman. There were many scandals there that were covered up.

https://www.amazon.com/Sins-Scandals-Freed-Hardeman-University/dp/1441551913

[longdistancerunner]

Note: I think it is quite likely that "abuse" in 1950 probably didn't imply sexual abuse (but may have, people were not as cognizant of this as they are today). Hardeman was a very strict disciplinarian and would call out people at chapel for misbehavior. It may have been he was disciplining the students for something they did not do. It is quite interesting to me that almost the whole student body was ready to quit the college, it must have been a very emotional issue.

[Ivy]

Sounds like it could have been severe verbal / emotional abuse and/or public humiliation.

[faithandmore]

Note: I think it is quite likely that "abuse" in 1950 probably didn't imply sexual abuse (but may have, people were not as cognizant of this as they are today). Hardeman was a very strict disciplinarian and would call out people at chapel for misbehavior. It may have been he was disciplining the students for something they did not do. It is quite interesting to me that almost the whole student body was ready to quit the college, it must have been a very emotional issue.

Back in 1950, especially with college students raised in a conservative, authoritarian culture, I'm guessing the abuse had to be pretty bad for them to call it "abuse" and to make an issue of it.

[longdistancerunner]

I found the Articles in the Tennessean newspaper and there was even an article about it in the New York Times. It was not sexual abuse but a severe reprimand of two ministerial students and the firing of the dietician who stood up for them. The reprimand was for a scandalous report NBF said the students circulated but it turned out they were falsely accused. The dietician was fired and NBF said the whole thing was just an effort to get him to resign, almost the whole school dropped out over it and a lot of faculty resigned. Must have really been a fun place back then and I understand it still is. Henderson was and still is about as far from civilization as you can put a college. I don't think students were even allowed to have cars at those places. I talked to people who went there in the 70's and it was really strict, much like Pensacola Christian College in Florida (where students are not allowed to go to the beach, Most stairwells, elevators, and parking lots on campus are segregated by gender.PCC also prohibits physical contact and interaction between unwed members of the opposite sex. For example, a chaperone and "day-pass" is required for a "mixed group" for students under the age of 23. Students over the age of 23 are not required to have a chaperone on a date, but cannot go to a beach or a park after dark and cannot "visit the home of an unmarried person of the opposite gender." In addition, "most forms of dancing," profanity, hazing, discrimination, gambling, stealing and "witchcraft, séances, astrology, or any other satanic practices" are also banned.Policy violations also include visiting movie theaters, patronizing unauthorized area businesses, being off campus after hours, being in a residence hall belonging to a member of the opposite sex, and engaging in social activities with members of the opposite sex as a group off campus.).

[B.H.]

I was still CoC when I went to college and university. All those rules are why I didn't want to go to a CoC school. I pay a college for a service-to get an education not to tell me what I can and can't do when I'm off campus. I understand being a student does not give me any rights deciding curriculum, ect and shouldn't but if I want to go to the beach or a restaurant that serves alcohol because I like the food there regardless I don't drink is none of the colleges business.

[faithandmore]

I was still CoC when I went to college and university. All those rules are why I didn't want to go to a CoC school. I pay a college for a service-to get an education not to tell me what I can and can't do when I'm off campus.

And college cost far more now, than it used to. Tuition at all colleges has increased about 700% since the 1970s. That's crazy. And on top of that they want to dictate student's private lives.