Columbia’s Benedict College Celebrates 152 Years
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Posted By: Kennedy Williams on March 07, 2022 Benedict College, located in downtown Columbia, was founded by a woman. Now, after 150 years, the college is being led by one. Dr. Rosyln Clark Artis was appointed as Benedict’s first-ever female president and CEO in 2017. Artis is the 14th president of Benedict, one of the state’s oldest Historical Black Colleges and Universities and has been making positive changes and impacts since taking the helm, according to Kymm Hunter, Benedict’s assistant vice president for communications and marketing. She has renovated the Charlie W. Johnson Football Stadium, where the South Carolina High School Football Championship games are held. The football stadium has also been beautified with new turf, landscaping, and a high-tech scoreboard has been added. Now, Hunter said, “You really have all the bells and whistles when you’re recruiting students. That has really helped, particularly when they come and play in the championship, and they see this great facility. They can see themselves playing for us.” Campus-wide, Artis has done landscaping, repaved sidewalks, and renovated buildings “that just needed a little love or a lot of love, in some cases,” Hunter said. “She’s just doing a fantastic job elevating the look of the campus, letting students know we care about them and letting the alumni know that we care about the school,” she said. History of Benedict College Benedict, a private co-educational liberal arts college, is home to nearly 2,000 students. Founded in 1870 by Bathsheba Benedict, an abolitionist from Rhode Island, the idea to establish a college for recently emancipated slaves was her husband’s, Hunter said. When Stephen Benedict died in a fire, his wife wanted his legacy to live on. So, she worked with the American Baptist Mission Home Society to found Benedict College, Hunter said. Bathsheba Benedict provided $13,000 towards the purchase of an 80-acre plantation near Columbia as the site for the college initially named “Benedict Institute,” the school’s website said. The school was established to “prepare men and women to be a power for good in the society,” and operated on a former slave master’s mansion, the site said. The college campus, with its main entrance on Harden Street, has since greatly expanded to other areas in downtown Columbia and the historic Waverly community, in which a portion of the campus sits. Dr. David Swinton, who served as Benedict’s president and CEO for 23 years, built the Swinton campus center on Oak Street, followed by the bookstore, dormitories, and then further out more dormitories, tennis courts, and other facilities toward Two Notch Road, Hunter said. Two Notch Road is where the Charlie Johnson Football Stadium opened in 2006. Not far from the stadium is Benedict’s Business Development Center, which houses its Women’s Business Center. Last year, Benedict celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Benedict-Allen Community Development Corporation, a partnership with neighboring HBCU Allen University. Over the years, the corporation has been awarded grants to purchase dilapidated houses in the surrounding community and flip them with the help of YouthBuild program, Hunter said. “With them as our contractors, we’ve been able to take dilapidated homes and turn them into beautiful homes that some of our faculty and staff live in,” she said. “Some of the homes, we sold back to the community.” Some of the renovated homes are also being used to house college services, including the health center and the campus police department. The community, Hunter said, is happy to see the development in the spirit of collegiate athletics and community partnership,” “We are part of the community and have been for 150-plus years. We want the community to reflect our success,” she said. SOURCE: Benedict College If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Kennedy Williams
From Loganville, GA Spelman College class of 2020 Member Since July 2016 |
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