West Virginia State University
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West Virginia State University is a small historically black public college in Institute, West Virginia, an unincorporated suburb of Charleston, West Virginia. In the Charleston area, the school is usually referred to simply as "State".
The school was established as the West Virginia Colored Institute in 1891 under the second Morrill Act which provided for land-grant institutions for black students in the 17 states that had segregated schools.
From 1891 through 1915 the school provided the equivalent of a high school education, along with vocational training and teacher preparation for the state's then segregated system of public schools. In 1915 the school was renamed as the West Virginia Collegiate Institute and began to also offer college degrees. It was renamed West Virginia State College in 1929.
In 1954 the school began a rapid transition following the Brown decision to desegregate public education. The school surrendered its land-grant status, the only college ever to do so, and was incorporated into the general system of public colleges in West Virginia. Within a decade of the Brown decision, the college transformed from an all-black college with a primarily residential population to a heavily commuter school with over 80 percent of its students being white. The school remains over 80 percent white and commuter today, and its student body is largely older and part-time. However, to this day, African Americans make up the vast majority of students residing on campus, and the university's administration has always been heavily African American, even after integration.
The school previously hosted a separate graduate institution that, after several name changes, became the West Virginia Graduate College. However, in the 1990s, the graduate college was absorbed by Marshall University, and eventually moved to its own facility in South Charleston.
In 2001 the school's land-grant status was restored. As such, it is the smallest land grant college in the country. In 2003 the school's community college was separately accredited as the West Virginia State Community and Technical College, which is actually far larger than the main college. In 2004 the school was renamed to its current name, and began to offer graduate degrees in a few fields.
State's athletic teams, known as the Yellow Jackets, compete in NCAA Division II as a member of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
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| State colleges and universities in West Virginia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bluefield State • Concord • Fairmont State • Glenville State Marshall • Shepherd • West Liberty State • WV State WV School of Osteopathic Medicine • WVU • WVU Tech |
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| West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
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| Football: Charleston • Concord • Fairmont State • Glenville State • Shepherd • West Liberty State • West Virginia State • West Virginia Wesleyan Non-football: Alderson–Broaddus • Bluefield State • Davis & Elkins • Ohio Valley • Salem International • Wheeling Jesuit |
