Auburn University’s pervasive culture and strong sense of tradition suggest a rich and extensive history, set in stone by George Petrie’s famous Creed — which is painted, engraved and plastered across campus.
The enduring influence of the Auburn Creed gives the impression that the University has undergone little change over the years, that it’s sort of always been the way it is today. Yet when Petrie penned these proverbial words in 1943, Auburn University went by a different name altogether: the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
Before it received this title in 1899, it was known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama and, before that, the East Alabama Male College from 1856 to 1872.
Auburn University only became Auburn University in 1960, 17 years after the Creed's first penning.
Implicit in these name changes is the evolution of American culture, as well as the corresponding, often lagging, evolution of Southern culture.
East Alabama Male College began as a private Methodist university of the liberal arts, but its operations were suspended throughout the Civil War, during which it served as a Confederate hospital. When the war ended, an insufficient student population — perhaps due to the nation’s practical, restorative attitude at the time — forced the school to shut down.
It was quickly replaced by a public land-grant institution, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, laying the foundation for Auburn’s current standing as an acclaimed agricultural and engineering institution.
Despite establishing this academic basis early, the college initially admitted only white males. In 1892, twenty years after its founding, it finally accepted its first female students, Katherine Broun, Willie Little and Margaret Teague. It was also during this period that Samford Hall, likely the most recognized landmark in Auburn, and the school’s football program were established.
As enrollment increased and the local economy grew, the University sought to expand its scope, and it was accordingly renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API). This era saw much of the cultural development responsible for Auburn’s identity today, including the creation of Hey Day, the composition of the fight song and, of course, the establishment of the Auburn Creed.
Amid this growth, however, API remained deeply mired in the Jim Crow tradition of the South and failed to admit a single Black student.
In 1960, Auburn University finally took on its current name, reflecting a broader goal to identify with the surrounding community and attain national recognition. It was not until four years later that the first African American student, Harold A. Franklin, was accepted.
Despite the University’s seemingly timeless charm, its many name changes illustrate a complex, frenetic history, which reveals just how young Auburn is in the context of its development. It is important to acknowledge this fact when considering Auburn’s future.
Each generation, generally more progressive than its predecessors, holds the belief that it's got the right idea, so to speak, even if that idea hasn’t been put into practice. Nonetheless, when posterity looks back on history, it invariably finds that its ancestors tolerated — and often approved of — truly unconscionable behavior.
We must therefore recognize that, no matter how grand Auburn appears, there remain issues to be fixed, issues that were missed or ignored by those before us. Let us be the ones to set them right.
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